


A Beginners Guide to Destroying the Galaxy

by LeftShark



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: But ronan isn't, F/M, M/M, he's not a huge dick, nebula IS a Dickface tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-04-12 04:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4465454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeftShark/pseuds/LeftShark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Working" and living aboard the Dark Aster is no hastle for Peter. He's got a friend or two, and a lover who would, literally, destroy and entire galaxy if he asked him to, and (hopefully) a long life ahead of him.</p><p>He just hopes he doesn't have to spend that life betraying and fighting against said friends and lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> *whispers* look at this.  
> I started a fic when I have a bunch of other stuff I need to write oops.  
> OH WELL. I HAVE LIKE A BILLION RONAN/PETER IDEAS AND I NEED OTHER PEOPLE TO SEE THEM
> 
> I'll start it at 5 chapters. Then see if I need to add more.

“Maybe, we should just go to Xandar and get the orb ourselves instead of waiting on Nebula to fail again," Peter said sarcastically, wrapping his dark blue blanket tighter around himself.

"Maybe you should shut up, worthless Terran!" Nebula drew her sword, but didn't strike. She knew her boundaries. She shouldn't risk it.

"I've got more worth than you do," he quipped, giving her a smug look. "That's why I'm here by choice and you're not." The last part was mumbled, but she heard it anyways.

"That's it, Terran!" Nebula pounced at him, Peter flailed and scrambled to get off the table he was perched on and made a run for it, blanket dragging behind.

"Nebula! Stop!" Gamora's voice rang throughout the room.

Just then, Nebula tackled Peter and straddled him, wrapping her hands around his neck and squeezing. "Make one more stupid remark, Terran!" She sneered at him.

"That's...what I had planned!" He wheezed out. She squeezed tighter.

"Nebula, leave him alone!" Gamora said, getting frustrated with her sibling.

"And give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right where you lay!" She glared down at Peter, his eyes were watery and his face was turning pale.

He gasped a few times before answering, "Ronan."

"Get off of him, you fool, before you have us both executed!" Gamora delivered a rough kick to Nebula's side, aiming to distract her. It worked.

Peter took a large gasp of air into his lungs and used what strength he had to shove a distracted Nebula off of him and make another run for it.

The two assassins wrestled for a moment before Nebula realized that Peter was running away.

"I'm not done with you, Terran!" She picked up her sword off the floor and chased after Peter, causing the human to yelp and try to run faster. Gamora rolled her eyes and stood, going after her sister.

"Ronan!" Peter shouted, spotting the Kree Accuser entering the room. He dashed straight for him.

"Stop this. All of you!" Ronan commanded, deep loud voice filling the room. In his hands, he held his hammer, his favorite weapon when in battle. Gamora, being the more sensible one, stopped.

Peter brushed past Ronan and hid behind the Kree, using him as a shield between himself and Thanos' crazy daughter. Nebula forced herself to come to a stop, to avoid crashing into Ronan.

"All of you, you act like petty children. I'd expect it from one of you," he gave a quick glance back at Peter, "but the oth--"  
He did a double take. 

With a large, calloused hand, Ronan reached up to take Peter's chin, tilting the human's head back to get a better look at the hand-like marks on his neck.

"Nebula." Ronan's growl was deep, but loud as he turned back around to glare daggers at Nebula. Peter shuddered behind him at the tone the Accuser was using.

"Yes, Ronan?" The woman turned, her pitch black eyes focusing on Ronan's violet ones.

"We have discussed this before! Unless you want the heavy end of my war hammer crushing your useless brains, do not touch him!"

 

"Ronan--"

"Be quiet!" He raised his hammer.

"Wait! No! Ronan, no!" Peter stood on his toes and reached over Ronan's shoulder's to push the Kree's large hands down. "Don't kill anybody! Not right now!"

Peter was squeamish, as any normal person should be, at the sight of Ronan killing someone. Ronan growled, but lowered his hammer. No killing today. As much as Peter would've loved to see Nebula dead, he didn't actually want to see her dead.

He hadn't hated her at first. When they began working aboard the dark Aster, Nebula and Gamora were informed that Peter was there because he wanted to be there, and because Ronan wanted him to be there. Gamora suspected that it was because they were lovers of some sort. Nebula said her theory was impossible. Ronan didn't have lovers. Gamora was right.

Though, they never publicly showed that side of their lives. At least, Ronan didn't. Ronan never hugged or kissed Peter the way the Terran always attempted to. Ronan's way of showing affection was letting Peter have a say so in everything, and letting the human do whatever he pleased. Along with the promise of ultimate protection.

Peter would often attempt to hug or nuzzle Ronan, to get a reaction out of the Kree. But the Accuser would never budge. He would wear his continuous scowl, and stay perfectly still, is if he were carved out of stone. It never seemed to bother Peter, though.

They were an odd couple. Nobody knew exactly how they'd gotten to be. Each time they'd been asked, Peter changed the story.

Gamora had asked once. Peter had told her that Ronan rescued him from being help prisoner by a fire breathing dragon, and they slayed the beast and ran away together. His story was obviously not believable, so she asked him again a week later. That time he'd replied with "Ronan hired me to to shine his shoes. Turns out I also shined up his cold, dark heart!"

Gamora had rolled her eyes, seeing as he was obviously joking. All she knew was that Peter must've done something significant to gain the heart of Ronan the Accuser.

 

"So, do you have any news about the orb other than it being on Xandar?" Peter asked, draping his arms over Ronan's shoulders from behind. He rested his head against the taller man's back and leaned on him, hands gently tracing patterns over the armor on Ronan's chest. If it bothered the Kree, he wasn't saying so or doing anything about it.

"It is not on Xandar. It is in a ship orbiting Xandar," Ronan said.

"Why don't we just surround them and take it?" Gamora asked.

"It is in the hands of a powerful individual. By the time we reach Xandar, it will have been given to a man called the Broker. It will be easier for Nebula to go down there and get it from him.

"I'll do it," Gamora volunteered.

"It's my job!" Nebula snapped.

"You've failed to retrieve the orb for Thanos once! If you do it again, he will be angry! He won't refuse kill us all!"

"Ronan's already said--"

"Do not make up my mind for me!" The Accuser snapped.

"Wait! I'll go! I'll do it!" Peter said, raising his hand.

"No!" The three of them shouted at him.

He huffed. "Why not!? I could fit in easy! I don't really look like I would be there to kill someone--no offense, but the two of you look like you're out looking for trouble! I could pass as a Xandarian, and I know the Broker! Kinda...he's done business with my, uh, old captain, back on the Elector!"

"No." Ronan turned back to the sisters. "Gamora will go."

"I want to go with her!" Peter said, going to stand beside her.

"You're going to stay aboard the Dark Aster!"

"Why?" Peter crossed his arms.

"Because I've said so," Ronan growled, giving the human a glare.

"Because you said so?" Peter raised an eyebrow as Ronan have him a kurt nod. "You expect me to stay here and listen to you?"

"Yes."

"That's great, Ronan, but you can't exactly stop me, remember? If I wanted to, I could go get my ship right now and leave. Leave and never come back!" Peter doesn't mean to sound so angry, but he's getting frustrated with the Kree. Recently, he'd been treating Peter like a pawn. Like he was there to listen to Ronan. He had to remind Ronan that he wasn't like Nebula and Gamora. He wasn't sent there to listen to him and do as he commanded.

The look on Ronan's face was a mix between anger and something else (Peter couldn't tell. Was it pain? Paranoia?)  
The sisters stared at Peter, wondering how he wasn't dead yet. Nobody talked to Ronan in that tone and lived without some kind of injury. Injury that would normally kill a Terran.  
But Ronan made no move to hurt Peter.

Instead, he stood up straight, eyes closed, and sighed deeply. "Fine. Do as you wish, Peter Quill. I cannot stop you. You and Gamora will go to Xandar to retrieve the orb.

Peter's mood changed drastically and he perked up. "Gamora, we're going to Xandar!"

"All of you go." Ronan grunted. "All three of you, I mean. Get off my back." The Kree sounded annoyed, but the other three were pleased that they'd get a few short moments of freedom when they got to Xandar.

 

The green woman noted that Ronan made no move to cause Peter harm. He didn't even appear to want to harm him. She would store that knowledge in her brain and use it for a later time.

For now, she had a mission to prepare for. They'd reach Xandar soon enough.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bye, Peter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna wait til tomorrow to update
> 
> But whatever, I feel like Y'all need this.
> 
> I am aware the chapters are pretty short, but I write and post on mobile and they appear to be waaaayyyy longer on mobile.

"Do you know who has the orb now?" Peter sat cross-legged on the large bed, blue blanket from earlier wrapped tightly around himself.

"You are uninterested." Ronan stated, trying to veer his Terran away from the topic.

"No I'm not, stop making up my mind for me." Peter pouted.

"I do not discuss my business with people I who are uninvolved."

"You agreed to let me go to Xandar with Gamora. Technically I'm involved."

Ronan grunted.

"C'mon, I just wanna know who this supposedly great and powerful person is."

"He is not great or powerful. I just do not want him to get in the way of my mission."

The Accuser took a seat beside Peter, who immediately shuffled over to tuck himself beside the Kree.

"Oh...so are you just leaving him out of it for your safety?"

"No."

"For your sanity?"

"…More yours than mine, Terran."

"My name's Peter-- and my sanity? Who has the orb?!"

"Yondu Udonta--"

"D--Yondu has the orb?! Why didn't you just say so!? Ronan, do you realize how easy it would be for me to just go and get it from him? All I gotta do is offer him a good amount of units and he'll hand it right over to me! Or, I could just snag it from him when he's not looking."

"No."

"You could've had the orb by now!" Peter exclaimed, sitting up straight.

"You would steal the orb from a band of Ravagers?"

"I'm one of them! Besides, they aren't that bad. Yondu might've said he's gonna kill me about a trillion times, but he never does! I'm still alive, obviously."

"You're going to try it anyways," Ronan stated.

"Well, you know me well enough. I'll head out there soon enough. I'll take the Milano. Just make it appear like I've come for a casual visit. Or, I could tell him that I'll take the orb to the Broker for him! You can just tell Gamora and Nebula to meet me on Xandar. From there we'll make sure the orb gets you you safely and then you can deliver it to Thanos personally, and tell him to fuck off."

"If you go, and you fail to bring me the orb, I will paint the interior of the Dark Aster with your blood," Ronan grumbled.

"Oh, babe! I love it when you talk dirty!"

"I mean it!"

"Mmhmm, sure you do," Peter smirked and placed a soft kiss on the Kree's cheek, accidentally smearing back war paint on to his lips. The affectionate action made the blue mass of muscle growl. Peter winked and gave him another kiss before settling down to sleep.

Another advantage Peter had; Being able to sleep wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Including Ronan's large, comfy bed.

—-•-—-•-—

"Get off me, you stupid Terran!"

"Stop calling me Terran like it's some kind of insult!" Peter growled through gritted teeth. He sat on Nebula, pinning her to the floor. "You say it like it's my fault! I can't help it that I'm from Earth!"

Nebula made to punch Peter in the face, but he ducked his head and bit her wrist instead. Gamora watched on, wondering if she should break it up already or not; Watching Nebula fight with Peter, who was tipsy at the moment, was very amusing. He was finally getting fed up with being on the receiving side of her bullying, and fighting her back, but he was tipsy at the moment, and some of his punches were sloppy. Gamora was just glad that Nebula hadn't punched the life out of Peter or broken any of his bones. Should that happen, they'd both be smashed to pieces by Ronan. Nebula for harming Peter, and her for not stopping it. Another (somewhat) subtle hint of "affection" shown towards Peter; Ronan would kill anyone who harmed him. It still didn't make much sense to Gamora, though, how the pair of them had gotten together or stayed together.

"What kind of an animal are you!?" Nebula hissed, shoving her bionic fingers into Peter's mouth and prying his jaw open to set her arm other free.

"The kind that gets pissed off when you bother him!" Peter hissed back, muffled, trying to bite down on Nebula's cyborg fingers.

At that moment, Gamora stood and strode over to separate the two. "Enough, both of you! Act civilized for a few more days, until we have possession of the orb, and then you two can worry about killing each other!"

Peter crawled over to the nearby table and made himself comfortable in one of the seats. With a furrow of his brow, he took a sip from one of the glasses sitting on the table, "Oh, I'll kill her alright! And I'll use Ronan's hammer to do so! Im sure he wouldn't mind!"

"Shut up, Terran scum!" Nebula jumped up and kicked Peter's hand, making him drop the glass. It fell and shattered against the hard floor, sending hundreds of little pieces in multiple directions. Peter handed his feet up to avoid getting cut and glared at her.

"I was drinking that!" He snapped angrily.

"Why don't you have a taste of your own blood instead!?" Nebula drew one of her many daggers.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Gamora stood between them, shoving Peter back down in to his chair when he jumped up. "I can't believe the two of you would act so childish."

"I have the right to act however I want in my own home! She, however, doesn't have the right to pick on me constantly for every little thing! Every time she opens her mouth, it's always to insult me!"  
Peter glared at them both and stood up, shoving past the sisters and out of the room toward the ship hangar.

The sooner he got the orb, the sooner Nebula would be gone. He didn't get why she hated him so much. From the start, She was nothing but mean and hateful towards him.

Gamora used to be mean, too, but not to the extent that Nebula was. But the sisters did have their early days of kicking the shit out of him together. He used to feel like such a helpless puppy, getting pushed around by two woman who wouldn't hesitate to snap his neck with a spoon. Gamora had eventually warmed up to him, though.

Once there, he first opened the ramp to the Milano, which led to a small room where the entrance/exit hatch was. He shoved that open and hauled himself inside, closing and locking it behind him.

He strode through the ship, eventually reaching the control panel. (All the while wondering why the Ravagers didn't make the ships smaller. He swears, they're the size of his childhood house back on Earth. He's probably right. But anything smaller could be considered a pod.)

Once there, he turned the ship on, listen to the engine buzz to life. He punched in a quick message to Yondu on the Elector:

‘ Coming home for a few. ’

Then he went to place his cassette tape inside of it's stereo player, and turn it up loud enough for his liking. Peter chuckled, thinking about how much the others hated his mixtape with a passion. But no one dared to take it from him.

He threw huge fits when someone touched it.

Ronan's had touched it once and Peter had screamed himself hoarse over the importance of not messing with his walkman. 

Deporting from the Dark Aster, Peter relaxed. He'd have some time and space to himself for a while. At least, until he reached the Elector. Then he'd have no space at all. Ravagers didn't know personal boundaries. 

 

Silently, the human unstrapped himself from the pilot's chair and clambered down the steps and into the kitchen-like area of the Milano, grabbing himself something to eat and searching for something good to watch up on one of the many holoscreens he had aboard his ship.

He's more than halfway through watching The Fox and The Hound, an old movie that he remembers watching as a small kid, when he gets a call.

He muted the movie, but kept his eyes on the screen, answering the call on a smaller screen off to the side. He could hear the soft melody of ‘I'm Not in Love’ playing lowly in the background and he remembered that he should've turned it off before watching a movie.

"Hi you're interrupting something important and no, I'm not crying right now." (He'd started to cry, though. In his defense, watching the little fox be left alone in the woods was kinda sad)

"Where are you, Peter."

"Ronan? How long did it take you to notice I was gone?" Peter turned in his chair slightly, but his eyes were still transfixed on the children's film.

"Where are you?"

"Uhhm..." He watched as the lonely cartoon fox met a nice lady-fox. "Im in the Milano."

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the Kree's holographic picture. He looks like he's resisting the urge to facepalm.

"Where are you?"

"Gone." Peter finally turned toward the small screen. "I don't want to be on the Dark Aster right now." Should he admit he ran away like a coward because Nebula was calling him names? Nah...

"Where have you headed?"

Peter shrugged. "Just track me if it bothers you that much."

His eyes were now trained on his boots. He noticed that they were as clean as the day he'd bought them. This was probably due to the fact that he rarely left the Dark Aster.

There's a loud, deep sigh from the other end of the line.

"What is wrong?"

Peter could only give a shrug.

"You are crying."

"No I'm not! There's…something in my eye!"

Another sigh, this time with less force. "I take it you've gone to get the orb...Just come back in one piece." The last sentence is almost a whisper. Peter had to crack a smile; Ronan really did care about his health and well-being.

"Okay," Peter agreed with a nod. Ronan made to end the call, but Peter stopped him. "Wait! Wait! Ronan!"

"What?"

"I love you!"

"...I have a very, very deep...attraction...for you, Peter Quill. And you have my ultimate promise of protection."

Peter ended the call with a chuckle. Ronan really sucked at saying 'I love you.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know y'all stalk the Peter/Ronan tag every day to see what's new
> 
>  
> 
> Also...idk if I should add smut or just, like...make this fic fluffy or whatever...
> 
>  
> 
> |||  
> *all mistakes are mine


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets arrested. It's Gamora's fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's a dick in this chapter.

As soon as he stepped off the Milano, Peter was bombarded by a hoard of Ravagers.

"Guys, hi!" Peter greeted. Immediately, a drink was shoved into his hands by someone. "Y'all are tryin to get me drunk already?!" He laughed, but took a sip anyway, nodding in greeting every time someone said hi. Luckily, he'd sobered up from his earlier state, so a little alcohol wouldn't throw him over the edge. The bustle of Ravagers welcoming the long-gone crew me ever him was pretty outrageous, if you asked Peter.

"All of ya lazy fucks quit lookin' for an excuse to slack off of ya jobs an' get back to work!" At the loud shout of the Captain, the crew dispersed and left Peter standing there, grinning away like a fool.

"Look, it's my dad!"

"I ain't your damn daddy, kid. I told ya a billion times."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You're only my dad when I do something that you think is cool," Peter joked, wrapping his arms around Yondu in one of his well-known-amoung-the-ravagers hugs.

"Shut up." Yondu grumbled, but gave Peter's hair a ruffle. The kid had ways been really touchy-feely, since they day they picked him up off Terra. The crew knew this (especially Yondu and Kraglin.) Peter used to cling to everyone like a squirrel climbing a tree. Yondu almost smiled as he recalled the many times he'd had to yank Peter off of him or one of the other ravagers and snap at him that the crew were there to do work, not for a grubby little child to crawl all over and hug on. Almost.

"You've grown." Yondu pried Peter off of him.

"I've been this tall for years..?"

Yondu poked at him, "I mean, you ain't so skinny anymore. You've got more muscle mass. Ya look like you could actually pull your own weight now."

"Yeah." Peter shrugged. "I get enough food and basic training. But, like, fight-training. Not learning how to steal stuff from people. I don't have to steal things anymore, actually. I just...get whatever I want. Not to spit on the Ravager lifestyle, but...it's kinda nice. I ain't gotta worry about being poor if I don't find a job to do, I don't have to fight for my share of...anything, really. And nobody's interested in eatin' me." He gave the crew around them a quick glare.

"Damn, Peter. We ain't animals!" One of the crew members, probably Horuz, shouted. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

"Never said you were. Im still one of you, guys. Just...I've gotten to see the other side of life, thanks to Ronan. You know, it's nice to never have to look over my shoulder to make sure there's no space-police on my tail. I mean--I still look, out of habit, but I don't have to."

"Now, how the hell'd ya get yourself wound up with a fancy, rich guy like that?"

Peter looked at Yondu with a dead serious look.  
"Okay, well...once when I was on Xandar, I saw this dude rummaging and hoppin' around through a construction site. He looked pretty shady so I followed him around. Just to see if there was something I could do about it. Eventually, I found this cosmic brick in the ruins of a demolished building. Turns out, he was looking for it, he was also an outlaw. More known than me, but that's besides the point...the people of Xandar are just really forgetful and keep forgetting me's all. Anyways, I got the brick and blacked out, next thing I know, I'm being held by a Nova officer and he starts talking nonsense about the brick and freezing the world. I dunno, some kind of crazy talk. Then Ronan came to my rescue, he grabbed me and we hi-tailed it out of there so he could take me to his boss. Apparently I was the "special" one, and he needed to take me to his boss. Don't know why, but whatever. Nova were on our tail for the longest time, so we plannet-hopped. We went to different planets until we reached a planet full of other outlaws that had escaped the po-po. Tons of outlaws. Seriously. All of them ran away from the cops to live on a giant planet and do whatever they wanted--"

"Peter."

"Yeah?"

"Before ya go tellin' lies to the whole damn crew, make sure they're believable."

"No, it really happened. Just ask Kraglin, he was there! Right, bro?!" Peter turned to look at the Xandarian crew member.

"Uh...yeah. I was there. I saw the whole thing happen it's all true." Kraglin said, putting down a metal hunk that he'd pulled out from inside one of the M-Ships. His response was out of habit. Kraglin had been the closest to Peter's age when Peter was growing up on the Elector. He was 16 when Peter had come aboard at the mere age of 9. Despite being seven years older, Kraglin made one hell of a playmate. The pair would always be found doing dumb, childish things together. Including playing in and with cardboard boxes, telling the older crew members to leave them alone because they couldn't be distracted while using their imaginations. Or something along that matter. No one cared as long as they weren't being destructive little shits. Kraglin was like the older brother Peter'd always wanted. And some people on some planets actually thought they were brothers; Tthey both had the same pale skin and large blue-green eyes.

And then Kraglin got his own ship a few months after he turned 17. From that moment on, playing games with Peter wasn't in his ideal interests. If he wasn't gone, then he was working on his ship, trying to improve it and make it better. Peter would stand there and talk to him, but most of the time Kraglin would blow him off, or BS some kind of answer if it got Peter to leave him be. That's when he had become Peter Quill's first and only frienemy (so far). They were either best friends, or they acted like they couldn't stand the other, which was actually normal sibling behavior.

"Pair of liars." Yondu said, walking away.

Peter followed, fist bumping Kraglin he passed. It was good to know his bro had his back this time.

"So, Yondu. I hear you got this orb..."

"That what ya want from me, boy?"

"Source tells me you wanna take it down to Xandar...y'know, I could take it there for ya!"

Looking around first make sure they weren't being followed, Yondu grabbed Peter and shoved him into a small dark room. He closed the door behind them and then turned to the small pillar in the middle. On top of the pillar sat the orb.

"You're interested in this?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "Apparently it's really important. Quite a bit of people are after it."

"And that's why it's staying here until I personally give it to the Broker."

"I could take it for you," Peter offered again.

Yondu glared at Peter. "Nice try kid, but I don't trust ya. You'll take the money for yourself."

"What? No!"

"You're a Ravager. That's how we work. We steal from everybody."

"…what if I bought the orb from you?"

"Broker's paying me more that ya ever would."

"500,000 units. Right here, right now. For that orb," Peter pointed to the metal ball on the table. "That's half a million."

"Where'd you get that kind of money from, boy?"

"Ronan, but that's none of your business. Im here about the orb."

Yondu grinned.

"No. Stop. Don't give me that look. You are not using me to get money from Ronan."

"Look, kid. As much as I'd love to hand over this here orb to ya, I ain't going to. I traveled from the other side of the quadrant to get here and I ain't about to toss all that time out the airlock for ya. 'Sides, Broker's a tolerable trader. Don't wanna get on his bad side."

 

"First of all, you weren't even halfway across the quadrant when you found out about the orb, and second, you're gonna blow me off for some Xandarian creep with fuzzy little troll eyebrows!?"

"Yes? Didn't I make that clear enough?"

"Why?" Peter asked, blinking his eyes in confusion.

"Because I can."

—-•-—-•-—

"The orb will be brought to you with time, Thanos. Do not get angry with I, when it was your daughter who failed to bring the orb to me the first time! She's proven nothing but useless to me! Have you nothing to say!?"

 

"Accuser!" The Other shouted at him, aiming to gain his attention. "Lower your tone! No one speaks to Thanos that way!"

With a frustrated growl, Ronan thrusted his hammer in the direction of The Other, causing a force of cosmic winds strong enough to snap his neck in one sharp crunch. That'd teach him to interrupt.

"All I have to say to you, boy, is that you need to bring me the orb, and do it soon or it's your life that will be gone next!" Thanos' voice was deep, causing swift vibrations along the dark astroid beneath Ronan's feet.

"I am no boy!" Ronan readied his war hammer as Thanos turned around in his throne.

The alien giant's laughter seemed to shake the non existent walls around them. Ronan could feel the vibrations all the way down in to the core of his cold, dark heart.

He would never in a billion years admit that he was somewhat terrified of Thanos. He could always blame him slight trembling on his anger should anyone say anything about it.

"You are nothing but a boy," he leaned forward, using a finger placed underneath Ronan's chin to shove the blue Kree's head up, forcing the narrowed, violet eyes to look into his own. He could feel Ronan trembling underneath the edge of his finger. "You pout like a child! You are ignorant, unknowing! You are weak!"  
He flicked Ronan's chest with enough force to knock the Kree over. Luckily, he was able to steady himself before he got the floor.

He pointed the hammer at Thanos. Thanos pushed it away. "Get the job done. And keep your little Terran pet out of it."

"He is no pet!"

Thanos smirked. He'd just discovered a weak spot.

"Listen here and listen well, boy. You will bring me that orb. Then, and only then, will you get what you desire from me. If you fail to bring me the orb, I will bathe the starways in your blood. Then I will bring you to life, just to do it over again. You are no threat to me. And you will be no threat to Xandar if you are dead."

Ronan growled, showing off shiny, black teeth.

"Perhaps I will make the Terran watch."

It took all the willpower in the universe for Ronan not to pounce on Thanos and beat the ugly smirk right off of his big purple face.

—-•-—-•-—

 

"Sir, we have a problem, there's--"

"Quill jacked the orb, that sonofabitch!" Yondu snapped, sliding into the seat in front of the control panel and firing the Elector's smaller guns toward the escaping Milano.

"What are you doing, cap!?"

"I'm 'onna shoot 'im outta the sky, Kraglin."

"But you'll kill him! We have other problems to worry about! A fleet of M-ships not too far off are being raided and the crew can't hold back much longer! Forget about Quill, they need all the help they can get!"

Yondu grabbed Kraglin by the front of his red leather jumpsuit and growled, "No, put a bounty on him. 40k. I ain't letting this slide. But I want him alive. Soon as he gets here, I'mma drive this arrow straight through his forehead."

"You know ya don't mean that, Yondu--"

"Put a bounty on him!"

Kraglin nodded, grabbing the nearest data pad and jogging toward the hangar. The Elector wouldn't be fast enough to reach the ships on time. Other crew members would have to head out in their own ships to get there first and help fight. Anyone brave enough to raid a group of Ravagers was someone strong. They'd need as much help as they could get.

-

Peter laughed manically as he veered the Milano to the right to avoid the gun fire. So far he'd managed to avoid three of them.

He wasn't so lucky with the forth. It hit the right wing and sent Peter spinning out of control and down toward the waters of Xandar.

Quickly thinking, he slipped out of his chair and curled up into a ball on the floor, bracing himself for impact. He was thrown about as soon as the Milano hit the water, and when the ship finally came to somewhat of a standstill, he scrambled to grab whatever he could. He took his walkman and tape and made sure it was all secure in a plastic bag, to keep the water from getting to it.

He knew he'd have a limited amount of time before the Nova came to fish his ship out of the water. He didn't feel like dealing with them, though. And they'd probably take the orb away from him!

He opened the hatch to the Milano, then made sure it was closed tightly, so no water would get in, before forcing the exit ramp open and swimming out, mask activated to help him breathe under the water. With the help of the small rocket thrusters on his boots, he was able to reach a shoreline, far away from the Nova corps and out of sight of the curios civilians who had watched the ship crash.

 

 

The sun shone down on the busy walkways of the capital city of Xandar, bringing even more people into view of the fuzzy, ring tailed creature that gazed around in a despiteful manner. Not that he needed the light to see all the disgusting Xandarians. He had perfect eyesight, even in the dark. "We gotta find something that'll bring us in money. We can't be poor forever, Groot! That ain't no way to live!"

Hearing no response, the animal turned around. "Groot...Hey! Quit drinking the fountain water, ya disgusting idiot! That's gross!"

Groot, the bipedal, tree-like creature, shook his head, giving a groan as a response.

"I just saw you! With my own two eyes! Ya think I'm stupid or something!?"

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, well, I don't see you lookin' for somethin' that'll bring us in some cash! So until you find us a job, you get no say so! In anything!"

"I am Groot!"

"So? I don't care! You're the idiot who's sippin' on dirty fountain water!" The ring tailed animal shook his head, ears folding back in annoyance.

"I am Groot."

"And? You--" he was cut off by the scanner in his paws beeping loudly. "I got somethin!" His ear's perked up and he held the device up, pivoting around until he found the source.

A man in sitting down on a concrete bench, clothes damp and hair dripping wet.  
"What's up with you, freak?" He mumbled, waiting for some thing to show up. Data began to fill the screen and the creature's eyes grazed over each word until he reached the bottom of the page. His tail fluffed up and he let out a surprised cry. "Groot! Buddy, we're gonna be rich! 40,000 units!"

 

Peter sighed, reaching up to push his wet curls out of his face. At least it was a warm day on Xandar. He'd dry much faster. Other than the crash landing and swimming, he was kind of enjoying himsel for. And besides, he needed to sit out in the sun for a while, anyways. It had been a while since he'd last been planet side. He'd missed having some fresh air and a nice, warm place to sit. The Dark Aster was always dark and cold. (Like Ronan's heart)

And there he sat, enjoying his quiet time and fresh air, when suddenly, a net was tossed over him.

"Gah!! What the hell!?" He jumped up and began flailing, tossing the net off of him and making a run for it.

"Come back here!" A voice shouted. He spared a glance behind him and his eyes widened as he spotted what looked like an oversized raccoon and a walking tree. Sure, he's seen strange things throughout space, but nothing like this! "You're ours!"

Peter turned back around and shot up a flight of stairs as fast as he could go, narrowly dodging a blaster shot. "Leave me alone! Can't I just sit outside in peace!?"

"Peter!?"

The human looked to the left, spotting

"Gamora! And Nebula..." He slowed his sprint to a slow jog as they, also, followed after him. The raccoon and tree caught up to him, though, weapon ready to fire.

Immediately, Gamora whipped around and began firing at them, careless to the civilians around them. They all scattered like a bunch of bugs, anyways.

"Get him, Groot! I'll handle her!" The raccoon shouted, aiming his own gun at Gamora.

Peter wiggled and flailed about as the tree grabbed for him. Lucky for him, the tree wasn't able to hold him in place and he made another mad dash for it. This time, though, he was tripped up by the raccoon. He landed on his back, facing up at the blue sky. Pain spread the ought his body from the impact, and the sun shone right in to his face, causing him to squint his pretty eyes. Today was just not his day.

"Gotcha! Now stay still or I'll shoot ya!" A gun was thrust into his face and the raccoon settled on to his chest.

"What are you!?"

"Name's Rocket. And you're gonna shut up or I shoot ya. You're gonna do as we say, and you won't get hurt. And then me and Groot are gonna be rich!" Rocket said, pressing the barrel of the gun into Peter's cheek.

"What are you babbling on about?"

"Shut up, humie. Save your words for right before your end time!"

"You're gonna kill me?!"

"No. I ain't. But those Ravagers are. Soon as me an' Groot collect that bounty, we're hoppin right outta there. I dunno what happens to ya next--"

Rocket's speech was cut short as Gamora approached, and punted him across the walkway. Once she was done kicking him around like a football, she yanked Peter to his feet.

"Yondu put a bounty on me!" He exclaimed. Gamora pulled out her gun and shot it at Rocket, shoving Peter behind her.

"You have the orb, right?!"

"Yeah!" He ducked down to avoid being hit.

"Give it to Nebula. She'll get it out of here!"

"What!? No! It's mine. I got it, I'm gonna be the one to give it to Ronan. She's not even helping us!" He said, glancing to where Gamora's sister was standing some yards away, not bothering to jump in.

Gamora was about to say something, but was interrupted by the Nova officers stepping in to break up the fight. Peter groaned when it was made clear that they were under arrest. Gamora glanced around. Nebula was nowhere to be seen.

The quad were cuffed and tossed into the back of a Xandarian police craft, all four of them looking collectively angry. Well...as angry as a tree could look.

"This would've been way easier if you would've just complied and let us take you to the Ravagers!" Rocket shouted.

"Why?! So they can throw me a 'welcome home' party!?" Peter quipped with an eyeroll, sitting down. then he turned to Gamora.

"What are you talking about!?" Rocket snapped. "What?" He turned to Groot to voice his un-understanding.

Peter ignored him and snarked to Gamora instead.

"Way to go, Mrs. 'I wanna shoot everybody!' You just got us arrested!"

She kicked him, her leg reaching high enough to hit him in the face.

"Ow! Hey! That's gonna bruise!"

"I don't care. If you would have just waited for us to get the orb when it actually got on Xandar, we wouldn't be in his problem." She said to him in an angry whisper.

Peter reached up with his cuffed hands to rub at his face. "That's gonna bruise."

"I don't care." She repeated.

"Yeah, well I know someone who will!"

"And how would you even tell him?"

"Trust me, he won't take long to find us. And besides, I've got one hell of a plan up my wet sleeve and it's gonna work."

"Don't lie to me, you dog! You did not think up of a plan!" Gamora snapped, rolling her eyes in turn. They were basically having an eye-rolling competition. Rocket turned to them in amusement. Watching an argument was fun sometimes. Almost as fun as having one.

"I did too."

"Oh, please. You don't even look like you're capable of thinking up of a plan!"

"Yes I do! I look like I'm capable of anything!" Peter said as he looked over himself. He looked like a sloppy wet mutt, in all honesty, but he wasn't gonna let her win.

"The only thing you're capable of doing is being an imbecile!"

"Yeah, well...a-at least I didn't get everybody arrested!"

"Humuie's got a point, witch." Rocket said. "You got us all arrested!"

"Yeah! See, the raccoon agrees with me!" Peter stuck his tongue out at her. He's won for now.

"I was doing what I had to do!" Gamora said.

"Blah blah blah," Peter mocked. "If the little animal and the tree here would've taken me to Yondu, I could've just offered him an extra 500,000 units and I'm damn sure he woulda just let me go. I could've gotten back home without a problem."

Rocket's jaw dropped. "You're rich!? He's rich! He was just gonna hand over 500,000 units!?"

"I already offered him 500,000. I was gonna double that and give him a million."

"What!?

"Shut up," Peter said. "It's not that surprising."

"You can just hand away a million units like its nothing."

"Yeah, but then I'd be broke until I was able to get a hold of my...friend. He'd just give me whatever I needed," Peter shrugged. "Not all of us are poor little dirty raccoons, y'know."

"I ain't dirty, pal! You're just lucky the brute showed up or we'd be turning you in to Yondu and his pack of savage beasts right now!" Rocket snorted and spit at Peter.

"Hey, shut up!" He kicked in the raccoon's direction, but the animal jumped back.

"You ain't seen those guys in action like I have, pal! They fight dirty!"

Fed up with hearing the animal trash talk the closest thing he had to a family (other than Ronan), Peter reached up with cuffed hands and yanked down the zipper to his coat, shoving part of it aside to reveal the Ravager logo sewn to the right hand side of his shirt. Right on the chest. "So then you know I ain't gonna show any mercy when I get my hands on you! I'll skin you and turn you into a raccoon hat!"

"What the hell's a raccoon!?"

"It's what you are, stupid!"

"Quiet down back there, both of you!" A nova officer's voice came through a small speaker in the top corner of the small room.

"I still think this is your fault," Peter grumbled to Gamora, leaning his head against the wall. He could hear the engine of the small spacecraft buzzing. "It's all your fault."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's being a prick and trying to blackmail gamora bc he's mad.
> 
> He's also just like "bruh I know the Ravagers they arent that scary"
> 
>  
> 
> || All mistakes are mine ||
> 
> So...Was this chapter better?
> 
> Is there anything y'all wanna see happen?
> 
> Peter WILL end up back with Ronan,


	4. Four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and his new "friends" get sent to prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the nice and funny comments on previous chapters! They make me feel all good and happy inside!  
>  I seriously love comments.
> 
> I apologize for not udpating sooner!
> 
>  
> 
> || All mistakes are mine. Fight me. ||

"What do you mean the Nova corps arrested them?!"

"They caused a disturbance of peace in the city. The Nova came and arrested them. I was able to get out of there as soon as possible...nothing happened to me."

"Nebula."

"Yes, Ronan?"

"I do not care what happened to you. Do you have to orb?"

"No."

"Does Gamora have it?"

"No."

"Where is it!?"

"Peter has it."

Ronan sighed.

"Sources say they've been transported to he Kyln," Nebula noted.

"Then it should be more than easy to get them out."

.:. • .:.

"The Kyln!? No! I can't go there! I'm to pretty to go to federal prison--gYAAHH!" Peter yelped and jumped back as one of the officers aimed an electric baton at him.

"Keep walking. All of you."

"But you don't understand, sir! Look at my face, I'm beautiful! Do you know what happens to beautiful people in prison?! I sure as hell do and it ain't nothing good! Just let me go and we'll all be happy!" Peter tugged at his cuffs in a weak attempt to get free.

"Shut up, pretty boy. Ain't nothing gonna happen to ya while me an' the big guy are around," Rocket said, though it didn't sound too reassuring. "You're our meat. I don't think them Ravagers want damaged goods." That's why.

"I am Groot!"

"Seriously, guys?!" Peter glared down at Rocket, stopping in his tracks and causing Groot to bump into him from behind. "You're still hooked on the thought of turning me in to them?!"

"Yep." Rocket flicked his tail and continued walking after Gamora. Peter jogged a bit to catch up with the line.

"Why?!"

"'Cause you're damn annoying, kid! And ya whine a lot. It's horrible. Makes my fur prickle. And now that I've been trapped with ya for a good amount of time and you've been blabbing non-stop, I actually wouldn't mind seeing ya dead! Y'know, if Groot and I decide to stick around while they tear ya up. I'd be quite the show!"

"Wow. That wasn't rude at all," Peter rolled his eyes. "Besides, I don't think it would go down the way you imagine it in your little rat-skull."

"I ain't a rat! And I don't know what ya did, but I must've been bad because they put a pretty big bounty on ya! So I don't think they'd soften up on ya one bit, freak."

"A big bounty? How much was it?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

"40,000 units!"

"What!?" Peter shouted, causing the other's to jump. "40,000!?"

"Yeah, quite a bit, that's why me an' Groot want ya!"

"No! That's an insult! 40,000 units!? That's hardly a dent in their money box! I am worth way more than 40,000 units! That's like comparing me to dirt! I can't believe he'd do something like that to me, that blue bastard! That hurts me way down in my big, soft heart! My heart!" Peter pretended to cry.

"Shut up!" Gamora said, glaring at Peter over her shoulder. 

"You didn't even say please. You're a rude bunch of people, geez. Maybe y'all should try to lighten up!"

"Please, shut the flark up." Rocket commented sarcastically.

"I am Groot."

Peter looked at the tree-man over his shoulder. "Who cares? We pretty much figured that out the first seven thousand times you told us! What the hell's wrong with you!?"

"Oh, he ain't telling you his name, pal!" Rocket snickered.

"I'm not your pal!"

"I am Groot!"

"Yeah," Rocket agreed.

Peter looked over his shoulder at Groot again, trying his best not to stumble.

"See, universally, it seems like he ain't one for talking many words," Rocket explained. "Translators ain't gonna pick up his words like they do yours and mine. Don't know why. Just don't work like that with his kind. But that's alright, Groot uses lots of nonverbal communication. Now, I don't exactly speak Groot, and it took me a hell of a lot of time to understand this big idiot over here, so I doubt any of ya will ever pick up on it."

"Are you calling us dumb?" Peter asked as they finally came to a stop.

"No. You are way beyond dumb."

"Thank you for the kind words," Peter rolled his eyes. The officers began to give them some kind of instructions. Peter let his mind wander to other places.

What was Ronan doing right now? Was he thinking about Peter? (He probably was.) Peter let a stupid grin attach itself to his face.

"What are ya smiling all creepy for, ya idiot?!" Rocket tilted his head back, looking at Peter.

"Im thinking of how a hat made out of your fur would look so good on me!" Peter snapped. 

Rocket folded his ears back and growled.

.:. • .:.

 

The human gazed around, somewhat scared out of his mind at the chaos that erupted in the room as soon as the group stepped in.

Most of the inmates were hurling threats at Gamora, promising her death and unbearable injuries. A few of them even tried throwing things at her.

"Damn." Peter said, looking at Gamora. "Everyone hates you."

"Yep." Rocket nodded. "'Course they do. She works for Ronan the Accuser. There's no way in all of the universe that anyone would like her." For once in his life, Peter's glad Ronan didn't drag him along to get jobs done. He'd probably be just as hated. "There's more freaks than I can bother to count that have lost their families to Ronan and his team of psychopathic henchmen."

"You mean, like, they killed people?" Peter slowly looked down at the 'not-raccoon.'

"Yeah. They're crazy. All of them. Anyone Who'd be willing to follow him must have something wrong in their brains." Rocket glared at Gamora as he spoke.

Peter swallowed, uneasy. He knew Ronan had a quarrel with Xandar and had a negative view of the peace treaty, but he was never told that so many people were killed. He'd suspected around a dozen or so to have their lives lost, because sometimes, jobs needed to be done, even if it meant killing a person or two. Or twelve. He'd even had to do it himself a few times. But the way Rocket was speaking...it made it seem like Ronan had planned a mass genocide. He glanced towards Gamora, but she deliberately looked away from him. Just how bad did Ronan hate the Xandarians? What was wrong with the Xandarian people? It wasn't like they were horrible people. Kraglin was Xandarian, and he was best older brother Peter could've wished for. Peter felt an uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't bring himself to see Ronan wiping out millions of people. People who still had full lives ahead of them. People with jobs and families. And how did Ronan keep this all a secret from Peter? How could he do down thing like that!?

His thoughts were (almost thankfully) cut short when he nearly bumped into someone. (Almost.)

"Whoa, check out the new meat!"

The guy was tall, way taller than Peter would ever be, and large. Something about him briefly reminded Peter of a whale. 

And then, the creep began to drag his gross fingers down the side of his face, chuckling and talking of all kinds of freaky things he would do to Peter.

"Alright, bub, listen up!" Rocket shouted, clambering on to Peter's shoulder. "All of you listen up!"

Peter flinched at the animal's loud voice.

"This one here belongs to us!" He pointed to himself and Groot. "Ain't nobody allowed to even look at him, so long as we're here! Keep it that way, or we got some plans for ya! Take this an your example!"

He turned to Groot. The floral creature glared and reached out, shoving two of his root-like fingers into the man's nose, forcing them to grow and expand as the guy howled, experiencing a whole new level of pain. Peter let out a soft squeak and shut his eyes.

That was gross.

He lifted the beast of a man off the ground with ease and rumbled a loud, "I am Groot!" Then let the man fall to the floor.

"Get 'im, Groot," Rocket commanded, hopping off of Peter's shoulder.

Groot reached out and grabbed Peter, forcing several vines out of his arm to serve as ropes and hold Peter in place.

"Wh--hey! No! Let me go!" Peter began to struggle. "You can't hold me hostage in a prison! That's stupid! I'm already here against my will!"

"No can do, humie. I said, we gotta keep you in tip top shape. Can't risk our job here!"

"It's not a job! Turning in someone with a bounty on them isn't a job! Not unless someone personally hired you to do it!"

"Ah, shut up. Now, it's almost lights out in this place. C'mon Groot. We got a few good minuets to search for a good spot before they all get taken."

"I am Groot."

 

 

 

The trio found sleep in corner, away from the other inmates.

Groot sat, facing the corner where the two walls met, vines and roots protruding from his body and forming some kind of half-cocoon against the wall to hold Peter in place. Rocket was curled up on Groot's shoulder, small branches and leaves forming a nest for the animal.

Peter had woken and sat up when he heard a muffled yell. Lucky for him, Groot was in some kind of deep sleep-state, making it easier to weave through the branches and escape to investigate.

To the left, he spotted a few inmates dragging Gamora away, knives unsheathed. His eyes widened and he rushed to get out of the small room and catch up to them.

"Quill!" Rocker whispered. "Quill, where're ya going!? Get back here!" But Peter was already running away, surprisingly very silent.

Rocket sped after him on all fours, to move faster.

 

Peter felt anger rising in his chest. He wasn't going to stand by as some creeps stab the closest thing he had to a friend! "Hey!" He shouted.

They all turned to look at him.

"Um...can I join the party?" He asked, hoping he could scrap up a plan right away.

"No way, kid. She's ours." One of the snorted.

"She's mine!" A loud voice boomed from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look as a large, muscular dude stepped into the light. He was covered in red body markings, with a dark blue-green-gray-ish skin tone.

"Drax," one of the men breathed.

"The Destroyer," another whispered.

"She's mine." Drax repeated. "Mine to kill." The room was silent as two of the men continued to hold Gamora against the wall. "I watched in agony as Ronan took the life of my wife and daughter. I heard him laugh like a true psychopathic fool."

Peter forced himself to swallow down whatever sickness was trying to crawl it's way up his throat.

"It is only fair that I take her life in return."

"Wait!" Peter shouted, stepping forward. "You can't kill her!"

"Why not?" Drax glared and reached out to wrap his hand around Gamora's neck.

"She's not the one you're angry at! She didn't kill your family!" He defended. "R--h--Ronan did. You want him. Not her."

"Give me a more reasonable explanation." Drax growled, squeezing Gamora's neck. She gasped for air and struggled against the two inmates holding on to her.

 

"Look! She works for Ronan! And she's been arrested. He's gonna come bust her outta here sooner or later," Peter tried to reason. "When he comes back for her, to bust her outta prison, you can ambush him and...k-kill him...If you kill her now, he won't have a reason to come get her."

Drax thought about it for a moment, and then released her. The other two men let go of her arms and she took a deep breath. Surprisingly, she didn't jump up and snap everyone's necks. She casted a grateful glance in Peter's direction. The others filed out of the room, Drax snatching their knives away and claiming them as his own. Rocket stepped out of the way as they passed.

Peter looked down at the floor in shame. He'd just told a group of people how they should slay the one person who was able to keep him around long enough to form a stable relationship with. He was not worthy of Ronan's love. He would never be. Not after this.

Slowly, the sickness that had been coiled up in Peter's belly began to unwind and slither upward. Before he knew it, he was retching all over the floor.

"Y'know," Rocket said, "you're lucky there ain't no one but us in here. What ya just did was rather humiliatin'. Wouldn't doubt that someone else here would've shoved your face into that mess and demand that you clean it up."

Peter grumbled incoherently and got up, heading to the nearest sink to wash his mouth out. Without another word, the raccoon disappeared. Probably to chew Groot out for not waking up along with the others.

"Peter." Gamora stopped him from walking away. "You saved me. Why?"

Peter frowned. "Because I like you. You're the closest thing I've had to a friend aboard the Dark Aster. I don't want my last memory of you to be your dead body on the floor of a prison shower."

She thought for a moment. "Then I can assume you will miss me when I am gone."

"Yeah--wait, what? Gone? You mean, like...when the mission is over?"

"No." Gamora shook her head. "As soon as--"

"Idiots!" Rocket came scampering in. "I've just thought of a great plan! With the right kinda help from ya, we can get outta here by morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw poor Peter. And Rocket still insists on getting those units. And Peter's just like "bro they really aren't that mean"
> 
> I will try to get Ronan and Peter reunited within the next two chapters! And add lots of Peter and Ronan fluff! I still have quite a bit of chapters to go
> 
> This one is short, im sorry!!!
> 
> So...do you like it?
> 
> I know THATS not how the scenes went down, but I'm not too fond of those stories where they copy the dialog entirely from the movie and just tweak up a few things.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's trying to deal with the fact that his friend is a traitor.
> 
> Ronan re-enters the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a ling me because this chapter is longer than the others, and I started writing it at 3 AM, so there was a lot of sloppy errors I had to go back and fix.
> 
> There's a huge Jurassic World reference in this chapter.

Peter sprinted as fast as he could, watching as the large security door was closing before him.

"Run, ya idiot! Run!" Rocket shouted, digging his claws in to Peter's shirt as he hung on to the Terran's shoulder.

"I'm running!" Peter shouted back, ducking as one of the guards shot at them.

With barely enough space to get through, Peter dropped to his knees and slid through the closing gate, laughing along with the raccoon that was perched on his left shoulder as it shut behind them, providing a wall of safety between them and the prison guards.

 

Rocket wasn't kidding when he said he knew how to escape prison. That was a good thing.

"We almost got caught," Peter said, panting.

"It's your fault, humie. We had to go back for your...thing," he motioned to Peter's walkman.

"Hey, dude. It's the one thing I care about more than my ship and myself," he defended, strolling toward where the Milano was held in some kind of storage unit. To his surprise (or maybe not), they'd traced it back to him and had it towed to the prison.

"What else did ya get?" Rocket asked draping himself over Peter's shoulder as the Terran rummaged around the inside pockets of his coat.

"Snagged a few wallets, a deck of cards and...this gun!" He smirked, showing the small but powerful weapon off to the animal.

Without another word, Rocket held out his fist, giving Peter a fist-bump. It took a certain, very high thieving level to be able to jack stuff from a Nova officer. Any thief who could do that was a respectable thief in Rocket's eyes. Maybe Quill wasn't so bad of a guy after all...he still wanted those units, though...

"Can we make a deal, humie?" Rocket asked, changing position so that he was sitting on Peter's shoulder.

"Um, yeah, sure, but can you please stop moving around!? You're really big and heavy and you're hurting my shoulder!" Peter whined.

"You're a drama queen," Rocket said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, back to the deal! Say, how about instead of turning you into the Ravagers, I--hey!" Rocket's tail fluffed up in alarm as Peter reached up and grabbed him, maneuvering him so that he was sitting on both of his shoulders like a little kid instead.

"Go on." Peter said.

Rocket leaned forward, resting his arm's on Peter's head. "How about I don't turn you in to those Ravagers, and you give me two million units instead?"

"How about no!?" Peter glared up at the Raccoon.

 

"Yeah. I knew that was kind of pushing it..."

"Rocket, I cant just hand over two million units, dude."

Rocket shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"I can double what Yondu will give you," Peter suggested.

"That ain't enough."

"...500,000 units."

"Deal."

"Under one condition."

Rocket sighed, "What."

"Stick with me for as long as possible, buddy. You and your tree friend."

"What!? Why!?"

"If you do, I'll give you 600,000 units instead. That's a hundred thousand more! It's not forever, it's just until we can get that over-literal blue mass of muscle off our backs. He insists that he should stay with us until he slays Ronan...which is a very unrealistic goal, but anyways. We don't need him to change his mind and end up killing us all first..."

"I get ya," Rocket said, hopping off Peter's shoulders as they neared the Milano where the others were waiting. Peter brushed off a bit of fur from his jacket. Rocket, like any other animal, was shedding. Gross. But, He was glad to be back in his normal clothes. Yellow was not his color.

"What took you so long?" Drax questioned.

"I had to get this," Peter said, showing off his Walkman as he passed them.

"...You idiot... You risked getting yourself and the furry rodent killed for...that!?"

"Yes?" Peter shrugged his shoulders and opened up the Milano, making his way inside as Drax and Gamora trailed behind him.

Gamora rolled her eyes. "Everything he does is idiotic."

 

"You know him, yes?" Drax looked at her.

"Unfortunately." She didn't miss the way he wearily glanced at Peter. "He's not hellbent on destroying everything, though."

Drax reached forward and grabbed Peter by the coat.

"You work for Ronan!?"

Peter yelped as he was yanked backwards and slammed against the side of the Milano. Drax's hand wrapped around his throat and squeezed.

Frantically, Peter's eyes darted around in search of Rocket and Groot. They'd promised to protect him inside the prison, surely they'd do it now!? The pair was already inside the ship, though.

"Let him go!" Gamora shouted, drawing a knife.

Peter clawed at Drax's hand, trying to free himself.

At the commotion, Rocket dropped down from the hatch, blaster in hand, and aimed at them, walking down the ramp "What the flark is going on!?"

He aimed toward Drax. "Let him go or I won't hesitate to blow a hole in ya!"

Peter had sprinted as soon as Drax let him go, up the ramp and in to the ship as fast as he could manage.

"No! No! Get him off my ship!" Peter pointed at Drax as the large blue mass entered the ship.

Gamora rolled her eyes and grabbed Peter, hauled him over her shoulder, fireman style, and took him up to the cockpit.

"Hey, wait! Let me go! Put my feet on the floor! Gamora!" But his whines went unnoticed. She dropped him into the nearest chair, ripping off one of the seat belts with ease and tying him down with it. Then she took the other and used it to bind his wrists together. "Hey, what!? Stop!"

She reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved the orb. "Peter. This orb is mine...I'm sorry, but you were the only thing that kept me from getting it and selling it."

Peter stared at her with a hurt look in his eyes. "You're betraying Ronan?"

"I have a buyer. With the amount of money he's giving me, I'll be able to escape both Thanos and Ronan. Im sorry, Peter..." She ran a green hand over his curly hair.

"Gamora, no! You don't have to do that! Just...come live with me, on the Dark Aster! Nothing bad will happen to you, I promise."

"Thank you for the offer, Peter, but no. I'll Untie you and let you return home after I do my job..."

"Well..." She'd probably kill him if he didn't let her do what she wanted. "...How much are you selling it for?"

"Four billion units."

"Four billion units!?"

"I heard someone talk money!" Rocket said, leaping into the cockpit. "What's happening!?"

"She's selling my orb for four billion units!"

"What!?" Rocket turned to look at Gamora.

"You helped me escape, Rodent. For that I owe you. Come with me and I will give you a portion of the units."

"I am Groot!"

"Groot gets some, too!" Rocket stated.

Gamora simply nodded. "I will give the both of you half of the units."

"Ya got yourself a deal."

"What!? Traitors!" Peter struggled against the restraints. "We are not doing this! Let me go!"

"I have an idea!" Drax boomed, entering the cockpit. "We can use this puny man as bait! He, too, works for Ronan! When Ronan comes for the both of you, I shall kill him!"

"You're workin' for Ronan!?" Rocket shouted, ears folding back in anger as he looked at Peter.

"I DON'T WORK FOR RONAN!" Peter screamed, outraged. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"How the hell did ya even meet a guy like that!?"

"It's a really crazy story," Peter said, looking down a Rocket. "He saved me from getting eaten by a T-rex."

"What now?"

Peter sighed, trying to make himself comfortable in the seat. If he couldn't escape the situation, he might as well adapt to it.

"Back on Terra we had these things called dinosaurs. They were giant reptilian creatures and they were scary. I know because trained some of them! One of them, a giant 50 foot beast, tried to eat me! And then Ronan jumped in with his war hammer and smashed the fuck outta it!" Peter nodded, as if that would convince the others.

Rocket looked from Peter to Gamora, then to Groot. And then back to Peter.

"That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard a humie speak!"

"It's true!" Peter said, attempting to lean forward.

"That is a lie!"

"No it's not, I swear, Rocket!"

"Do you believe this guys lies!?" Rocket looked at Gamora.

"No." She sat in the pilot's seat and started the ship up. "It's broken," she stated, noting the red alerts that popped up on the holo-screens.

"Oh, yeah, that's 'cause my dad shot me out of the sky," Peter chuckled.

"What kind of father aims to harm his own children?" Drax asked.

"Oh, he's not my real dad. He and his gang of space pirate's kidnapped me when I was ten. But he's like my dad. He raised me to be a great thief, and he always made sure I wasn't ever too badly injured...that was mainly so he could put me to work cleaning the ship," Peter shrugged.

"So your dad's a pirate who raised ya to be a thief? Believable," Rocket said sarcastically.

"No, that piece of his life is actually true," Gamora confirmed.

"So he ain't lying?"

"No. My dad's actually a pirate. But he hates it when I call him dad."

"That's probably because he ain't your dad. You just told us that."

Peter shrugged, ignoring Rocket. "Where are we going, anyways? You could at least tell me that."

"Somewhere." Gamora answered, steering the ship out into open space before any of the officers finally caught up the them.

"Oh, that's my favorite place." Peter huffed sarcastically.

She ignored him.

"No, really, Gamora. We can't go very far. The Milano is damaged. M-ships are designed to shut down automatically if they're damaged and being overused, it prevents them from becoming completely unfixable! We can't go to far without repairing it!"

"Then we will stop and repair it when we get halfway there." She said, keeping her eyes on the stars. Peter sighed. Wherever they we going, he knew it was far away, and all he could do was shut up and wait.

 

 

 

"Can you let me out now?" 

"No." She doesn't even look at him.

"Please!?"

"No."

"But I really have to go pee!"

With a sigh and an eyeroll, she untied him and dragged him out of the cockpit and down toward the restroom, shoving him inside.

"Wait! My hands are still tied!"

Again, he was ignored.

—-•-—-•-—

 

Peter didn't trust the tiny backwater city they'd landed in. 

It was on a trashy, piece of shit asteroid/moon-type thing that was orbiting an equally trashy and piece of shit planet.

But at least Gamora had untied him and let him go outside to fix the busted wing of the Milano. It wasn't as bad a break as he thought, which he was grateful for. An easy fix that he could do on his own, mostly. (A little bit of help from Rocket was nice, and the height boosts from Groot in substitute of a ladder was also very helpful.)

Gamora sat inside with the Orb, and Drax had disappeared off somewhere. If he wasn't back before they left, they were gonna leave him behind. Which wasn't so bad of an idea in Peter's mind, but the blue beast of a man had insisted on sticking to them until he could make an attempt to slay Ronan.

Peter'd wanted to let him know that Ronan was practically immortal or some crazy shit, and that trying to kill him probably wouldn't work. But then Rocket suggested that Drax blow him up and the warrior agreed furiously. The only thing stopping Peter from telling him no was the fact that Drax could crack his neck in an instant and kill him.

"Do you know where we're headed?"

Rocket shook his head. "That green witch ain't saying."

"Oh," Peter shrugged and went back to fixing the fried plates in the damaged wing. "I'll be back," he said, hopping off of Groot's shoulder and heading into the Milano. He wanted to talk to Gamora alone for a minuet, about the random shit she pulled earlier; taking over his ship and openly betraying Ronan like that. And also for giving him away to Drax, who gave him away to the other two. Whonknew what the others would do to him? Drax might kill him, just to taunt the Kree Accuser. Rocket might blow him to bits as soon as he gets his share of money from Gamora. He might never get to see Ronan again. The last thing he might see is his life flashing before his eyes. He stopped those thoughts immediately. He would see Ronan again. And he'd confront him about this entire mess, and why he'd kept it from Peter. Sure, the Xandarians were a bunch of Pricks, but that wasn't worth killing them all.

"Gamora."

"Are you finished repairing the ship?"

"No, but..."

"What?"

"Why did you do this? Why didn't you and Rocket and Groot just, I don't know, land somewhere and steal a ship and get to...wherever you're going? And I could have gone back home! We could have just, I don't know, left Drax on some planet somewhere..." He sounds like he's getting kind of frustrated.

She eyed him for a moment, but didn't look at him completely. "I couldn't risk it."

"What do you mean 'couldn't risk it!?' It's not like anyone would hound me for information! They don't expect me to know anything because...because..."

"Because?"

"Because they think I'm just some kind of unintelligent Terran scum!"

"Peter, that is not true."

"But it is, Gamora! And you know it is! Don't forget that you used to think that way about me, too! You were just like your crazy sister, always making jabs and such at me, and I just put up with it to keep out of Ronan's way so he could work in peace!"

"You know I do not think that way of you anymore."

"But you think I'll rat you out! You won't let me go home because you think I'll tell everyone how you betrayed Ronan, and how unloyal you are! You tied me to a chair in my own ship! You're holding me hostage, pretty much! You won't let me go home and that's where I really need to be!"

She'd only ever seen him get this worked up and anxious when someone touched his Walkman without asking. Apparently that thing was as important as his sanity.

"Peter--"

"I'm homesick, Gamora! I know it's only been a few days, but it's the worst feeling! When the Ravagers kidnapped me, I got homesick! I wanted nothing more than to be back on Terra with the green grass under my feet! And then I learned to shut up and grow up. When I moved aboard the Dark Aster, it wasn't that different. For the first few weeks, I felt myself longing to go back to the Elector. I wanted nothing more than to be racing the hallways of that ship with my buddies. I left behind the people that I'd come to know as family to be with Ronan. My friends, my my fellow crew members, my brother, too! I wouldn't be able to laugh and joke around with them all the time like I was used to. It was all strange and uncomfortable and I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. Of course, the Ravagers always told me I'd be welcomed back, but I'm pretty sure they'd all take turns kicking me half to death if I go back to them! Thanks to that orb you have in your hand right now! And I can't just up and show up on Terra! The people there are probably still having debates on whether or not there's life on Mars! If I go there, it'll raise hell and I'll probably get in deep trouble with the government! Now you've dragged me out here instead of just letting me go back home and all I can really think of is being back home where I feel safe and know nothing will happen to me!"

He wiped at his wet eyes, unaware that he had started crying.

Gamora reached out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Peter, go to your bunk and go to sleep."

"Yeah," he nodded, "okay..."

Good. Gamora was not a therapist for whiney Terrans.

Peter disappeared down the stairs. A moment later, Gamora could hear music playing from down in the bunk area. Hopefully Peter would calm down and she'd be able to get her job done without having to knock him out several times to keep him quiet.

 

When Peter woke, he could hear the soft hum of the engine. Rocket must've finished repairing the wing while he was sleeping. He was laying on the floor, though, meaning must've rolled over and fallen off the bed in his sleep.

With a sigh, he reached up and turned off his stereo, stretching his sore limbs until heat crawled through them and he was able to move comfortably. At least Gamora didn't tie him to the bed. Ha!

Peter shuffled into the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. He looked like hell; His hair was everywhere, there was dried drool crusted against the side of his face, and the skin around his eyes and nose was pink and soft. Probably due to him crying himself to sleep. But he will admit, that was one really good sleep. For the last few days, he'd been falling asleep tied down to a chair. That had been uncomfortable. It felt good to actually sleep in a bed with enough space...or, almost enough space. If he actually ha demoing space, he'd've woken on the bed instead of on the floor.

Quickly, he cleaned up, changing into new clothes (a blue shirt, red leather vest, and black pants), then made his way out into the kitchen area of his ship. His stomach was screaming at him for food, and he was happy to comply. He hadn't eaten anything decent in days and he really needed something.

He was extremely happy to find that none of the savages aboard his ship had even touched his food. He'd probably throw a bitch fit right then and there. He'd spent the longest time gathering up the best tasting, non-perishable food to store aboard the Milano for when he needed to use it and had no access to good, hot meals. It was his and his only (and maybe Ronan's, should the Kree ever board the Milano).

Everyone else seemed to be up in the cockpit. But that was good, though. He wasn't sure he wanted that much contact with others in one day.

His tiny moment of joy was shattered as the others came down into the kitchen. He groaned (loud enough for them to hear) and rolled his eyes. "Get out of here, ugh."

"Shuddup, idiot," Rocket said, taking a seat on the table.

Gamora put the orb down. "We are close."

"Where are we going?" Peter asked.

"You'll know when we get there," she replied.

He sighed.

"Do you not trust me?"

"No, I trust you a little bit. But I would probably trust you a lot more if you told me what exactly this was. Seriously. Everybody wants it, but no one wants to talk about it or what it does! Is it a weapon?"

"If it is a weapon," Drax picked it up, "I shall use to kill Ronan!"

"No! What the hell, we aren't using it to kill anybody! Ronan included!" Peter said, snatching the orb from him. "Do I at least get to know what's in it!?"

"No."

"Why not!? I thought we had a deal! Aren't we, like, partners now!"

"I would never willingly be partners with you. And I do not know what's inside. Just remember, Peter; You are here to prevent me from encountering any obstacles, and this filthy ship was my only option." She reached out backhanded Peter (hard enough to sting but not hard enough to seriously hurt him. Just enough to to get her point across.)

"Woah--wait..." A blush crawled across his cheeks and he looked right at her. "Do that...do it again."

Confused, she reached out and smacked him again.

"Holy shit--I..." He sat down and grabs his jacket that was on the table in front of him, pulling it over his lap, attempting to hide the tent that was forming in his pants.

"Disgusting," Gamora spat, walking away.

 

Rocket stared up at him. "Ya got issues, Quill. Major ones."

"Dude...no ones ever slapped me before! Not like that!"

With a shake of his head, Rocket followed Gamora up into the cockpit, leaving Peter sitting there, confused and blushing.

 

 

A few hours later found Peter doing maintenance on his favorite blaster. Keeping it up to date was something to do. He was getting bored being on his small ship and not being able to pilot it.

"Idiot! We're inbound," Rocket shouted, hanging upside down from the opening to the cockpit.

Peter put down the pieces of his gun and climbed the steps to get a good view of where he was headed.

He stared in awe at the sight before him.

"What the hell..?"

"It's called Knowhere. A rugged civilization built up inside the severed head of an ancient celestial being." Gamora replied.

"So, they just came and built a city inside a giant robot head?" Peter asked, eyes transfixed on the once-a-functioning-head-but-now-it's-a-planet before them.

"Not entirely 'robotic', as you would say. Inside, there are some kinds of organic matter. Stuff like fluids, waters, even brain tissue. Things with high value that are mined and sold in black markets. The people here aren't so nice. They buy and sell for the benefit of themselves. The children, too, are thieves, most of them are homeless. Their parents abandoned them and left them to fend for themselves."

"That's...actually really sad. Why would you do that to a child?"

"Your own father blew a hole in the wing of your ship," Drax pointed out, glancing at Peter.

"Yondu? Yeah, well...I was being a little shit and I kind of deserved that. Not many people steal important things from Ravagers and live to tell the tale. He could've easily split my ship in two and killed me. Knowing him, he purposely let me go without causing me too much harm."

"I did not ask for a detailed explanation." Drax said, informing Peter that he really didn't give a fuck.

 

 

Just as Gamora had said, the children here were thieves. Peter placed a hand over his pocket, making sure his wallet was secure.

"Excuse me, sir! Can you spare any units!?" One asked, trying to distract him while another tried to reach into his bag.

"Have anything to share?" Another said to Gamora.

"Can I pet you?" A small girl asked Rocket. Rocket replied with a more than firm "Hell no" and the child pushed passed him and over to Groot.

"Go on! Get out of here!" Peter shooed the children away. "Go bother someone else."

The kids dispersed and took of running to hard the next group of people to come by.

"You weren't kidding about the children," He said to Gamora, but she had stopped walking. "What is it?"

"My buyer is in there. We will have to wait until one of his...associates comes to get us."

"What do we do while we wait?"

 

—-•-—-•-—

 

Getting drunk wasn't really Peter's cup of tea.

Okay, that was a lie.

This man was always a slut for getting drunk. But he was going to go home soon. By the morning time on this...head planet thing, Gamora would have sold the orb, dished out the amounts she agreed to give, and Peter would be on his way back home. He didn't want to attempt to pilot the Milano while drunk. He needed to be completely sober.

Ronan wouldn't have the orb, so he wouldn't use it for whatever he was planning to do...Peter pieced together that he wanted it for something big, but that thought made his skin crawl. He'd heard nothing but negative things about Ronan since he'd driven his ship out of the Dark Aster. Sometimes his stomach would churn just thinking about it. Thinking about what the others had said.

The human approached Gamora, who was leaning on a railing, gazing out in to the open space miles away. They had the perfect view of a beautiful Nebula, and Peter wished he had a Polaroid, so he could capture this moment forever.

"Hey," he said softly, leaning on the rail beside her.

She nodded in greeting.

"I just want to ask you..."

"What?" She tilted her head to look at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

"You said the orb was your opportunity to get away from Ronan and Thanos...not that Ronan is all that bad, but whatever. What did you mean by that. I mean...what did you plan to do?"

"After I sell the orb and split the profits between Groot, Rocket, and myself, I shall acquire a ship and travel to the end of the Galaxy. There, there is a secret ship that transports passengers to the next Galaxy. I will have enough money to board the ship and escape to where no one  
is looking for me."

"The next Galaxy!? But that's, like, a more than 15 year trip! Through empty space!"

She nodded, as if it wasn't a problem at all.

"But...that means...I-I'll never see you again, you'll be so far away! You'll practically be...gone."

He looked at her, his large green puppy eyes showing exactly how he felt about the situation.

"It's for the best," She stated.

He slowly reached out, taking her green hands in his much larger, pale ones. He was looking down at the floor now, but his green eyes flicked upward a few time to glance at her Yellow ones.

"Well...I'm gonna miss you. A lot."

"Why?" She blinked at him a few times when he looked up. "I am a murderous traitor. And an assassin."

"Because...I like you. You're mean sometimes, but not as mean as other people can be. Deep down inside, you really do care about things. You're like the sister I would've wanted, if I had a sister..."

He looked up at her.

"I love you, you're my friend." He pulled her forward, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

She tended for a moment, not used to be being held like that. The only times she was ever his close to someone was when she was fighting with them, in close combat. Not because someone actually cared this much about her. It was crazy! Just a few days ago, she had Peter tied to a chair and wouldn't allow him to leave, now, he was hugging her like they've been best friends since birth.

Slowly, she hugged back, allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder.

"I really am gonna miss you, Gamora. I mean, yeah, you tied me to a chair and forced me to come here with you, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun! Wait...that sounded so much better in my mind!"

She chuckled at his words.

"I mean--I consider you a friend. Or frienemy. Kinda like Kraglin. See, he's basically my brother, and I love him to death, but sometimes I also wanna beat him to death and I'm sure he wants to do the same to me. We can be frienemies. We're good pals, but the only thing getting in our way of becoming best friends is that sometimes we can't stand each other. Like when you call me disgusting or tie me to chairs."

"Or when you babble nonstop and it gets on my nerves. Like you're doing right now." She informed him.

"Sorry!"

"I am Groot."

They were interrupted by the talking tree. He stood, holing a passed out Rocket in his arms.

"What happened, buddy? He drink himself into a coma?" Peter chuckled.

"I am Groot."

"I guess that means yes. Where's Drax?"

Groot shrugged.

 

"Milady Gamora," a high pitched voice interrupted them. "My master awaits you."

Gamora motioned for the others to follow after her.

At the movements, Rocket woke. "Groot...what the hell are ya carryin me like that for?" He clambered up the plant man's chest and settled on his shoulder.

The group stepped in to the entrance, finding themselves surrounded by many tanks and cages full of all kinds of odd lifeforms.

"We house the larges collection of--"

"Yada yada, who cares? Where's the money?" Rocket asked. Groot and Peter nodded. Groot wanted to get paid, Peter wanted to go home. The sooner they forked out the units, the better.

"Right...I present to you, Taneleer Tivan, the Collector."

The man immediately started flirting with Gamora, kissing her hand and all.

Peter felt a hint of something-- Anger? Jealousy? Whatever. This guy was being a creep. He wanted it to stop.

"What...is that?" The man raised his dark eyebrows, and stared at Groot.

"I am Groot."

"Huh...I'd never thought I'd meet a...Groot." He was about to go on, but luckily, Gamora put a stop to his antics. 

"Peter, give me the orb."

"What? I don't...I don't have it?"

She turned to glare at him. "I gave it back to you."

"Wait, no, wait!" He reached in to his bag. "I got it right here!" He held it out, but it slipped from his hands, hitting the floor with a loud clang. "Oh shit, my bad."

He picked it up and handed it over. "Here ya go!"

A devilish smirk appeared on the Collector's face as he snatched the orb from Peter and placed it in a device, cracking it open.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

The Collector began to chuckle deviously, bringing up all kinds of holographic screens, showing what kind of destruction the revealed glowing purple stone inside could cause.

Honestly, it scared Peter shitless.

"It truly is beautiful," the Collector's hands hovered over the orb. He was visibly fangirling over whatever the stone was.

"Look, we're all very fascinated, man, but we'd like to get paid!" Rocket snapped.

"Yes," the Collector said, pulling himself out of his fangirling state. "Of course. How would you like to be paid?"

"Units! What do ya think!?"

"Sir," the Collector said to Groot. "Please calm your pet."

"I ain't a pet, buddy!" Rocket shouted, jumping up.

The Collector's smirk fell as he noticed his servant reaching for the infinity gem.

"Carina."

She glared at him.

"Carina. Stand back!"

"No! I will no longer be your slave!" She shouted, grabbing the stone.

Her loud, high pitched screams filled the room as everything began to fall apart. Groot grabbed Rocket and ran. Gamora tackled Peter to the floor and dragged him behind a desk, holding on to him for dear life. He didn't go completely unhurt, but the minor scrapes and bruises were nothing. He'd had worse. Even a few burns from the intense heat of the exploding building wouldn't bother him that much. They may sting a bit later, but he'd heal.

The whole entire place shook around them, and Peter trembled, huddling closer to Gamora, hoping he wasn't crushed by debris. 

After what felt like a terrifying eternity, the pair stood, taking in the damage around them.

"What the fuck..." Peter stared on with wide eyes as Gamora raced the to table to force the orb closed.

"How did I think that he could handle whatever was inside of this orb!?" She shouted, picking it up and sprinting out of there. Peter chased after her, leaping over pieces of broken glass and tables to keep up.

He went out of his way to get that thing and he was going to give it to Ronan!? He couldn't believe his own actions! He was going to hand it, unknowing, to his power hungry boyfriend who would give it to Thanos to kill billions of people!?

"I cannot believe you had that thing in your stupid purse!" Rocket shouted at Peter as soon as the pair came into view.

"It's not a purse! It's a bag! There's a difference!"

"Peter shut up! We have to get back to your ship--we have to take it back to Xandar! There's a chance the Nova Corps can contain it! We cannot let Ronan or Thanos get a hold of it!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's a really good idea!" He nodded, taking the or from her. "Or we could give it so someone who's really nice and won't use it to kill people, and won't arrest us, for a whole lot of money. I think it's a really really good idea."

"You are despicable, Peter Quill! Dishonorable! What is wrong with you!?"

Peter was about to reply when a loud shout cut him off.

"Quill!"

Peter froze. He'd know that shout anywhere. Ravagers.

"Shit, I gotta go!" He took off sprinting, pocketing the orb as he did so, the pack of Ravagers running after him.

 

Today was just not his day.

He shrieked as a bullet logged it's way into his leg and dropped to the floor, causing the crow of people to scatter in fear.

"Ah! Fuck--holy shit! What the hell!?" Peter grabbed his leg, holding it to himself. He yelped like a hurt puppy when a knife was jammed into his side.

"That's what happens when ya steal from a Ravager, boy!" Yondu growled, standing in front of Peter. He aimed a gun at the man's head.

"Wait! Wait! Please don't kill me! I have the orb right here if you want it!" Peter curled into a ball, putting his hands up to protect his face. "Im too pretty to die, please!"

"I ain't gonna kill ya kid," Yondu sighed. "But you can be damn well you're gonna get the shit kicked outta ya!" He hauled Peter up by his vest.

Quickly thinking, Peter slipped out of the leather vest, cursing at the pain that shot through his leg and side, but he pushed it aside and ran for his life. Thank god for adrenaline.

 

He took several sharp turns, only to find that he had looped in a circle and was now standing with Rocket, Groot, Gamora, and now Drax.

"What do you mean you called Ronan!?" Rocket was shouting.

"Dude! You called Ronan!? Before we could get the Orb out of here!?" Peter shouted, breathing heavy.

Drax held two knives, one in each hand. "I HAVE WAITED LONG ENOUGH!" A maniacal grin spread across his face as several ships appeared.

Peter sank to the ground and sighed. Though a part of his heart was excited to see Ronan again, after so many days, he didn't really want to be in this situation.

"You're bleedin' all over the place," Rocket said, crawling over to Peter. The handle of the knife had come off when he wiggled out of his vest, but the blade stayed firmly lodged in to his gut.

Peter looked up and grimaced in pain, smacking Rocket away when the alien raccoon touched the wound. "Stop!"

"Alas! The moment has come!" Drax's voice boomed loudly.

Peter looked back towards the tattooed idiot and caught a glimpse of black and blue. He forced himself to stand, ignoring Rocket's shouts of "Quill! Sit back down!"

"Ronan!" Peter shouted, pushing past Drax and staggering forward.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Ronan opened his mouth to speak, but his speech was ultimately stopped when Peter slapped him across the face with so much force that he'd worried he'd broken the Kree's neck for a moment.

The Sakaaran soldiers surrounding them all trained their weapons on Peter.

The Terran tried his hardest not to wince at the pain that shot through his right arm. He had no idea he could slap that hard.

Gamora stared in shock, as well as Groot, Rocket, Nebula (who had shown up with Ronan), and Drax. The Sakaarans looked around, confused. No one had ever threatened the Accuser in such a way, and anyone who even attempted was killed.

"You are such a fucking asshole," Peter said, stepping closer as Ronan finally turned his head to look at Peter. "You want to use the infinity stone to get Thanos to help you destroy Xandar," Peter shook his head. "Why? You can't just do that!"

Gamora let out a choked gasp as several of the Sakaarans grabbed her, aiming their guns and swords at her with hisses of "Traitor!"

"No! Stop!" Peter shouted, stumbling over to her. "Don't touch her! Let her go."

"Traitors!" One of the Sakaarans hissed, swing is sword at Peter and slashing his arm.

Peter howled in pain. "What the hell!? Why is everyone trying to stab and shoot me today!? You dick!"

With an angry growl, Ronan swung his hammer, instantly killing the Sakaarans.

Nobody hurts his Terran and gets away with it.

Peter opened his eyes and looked around at everyone m, weary and overwhelmed. He was beginning to feel weak and tried, and that was not good. He would have face-planted the ground if Ronan hadn't caught him and lifted him into his arms. Peter was injured. He needed medical attention.

Ronan could deal with killing everyone else after Peter was attended to.

 

Being lifted into the Kree's arms was the last thing Peter remembered before blacking out. Adrenaline doesn't last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL MISTAKES ARE MINE
> 
>  
> 
> Ronan's back.
> 
> So...was this chapter good or..? Nah?
> 
> The next chapter will have so much fluff that you will throw up pure sugar. You will get to see the super soft and fluffy (and somewhat childish) side of Ronan. He also has a really nice side that Peter never knew about.
> 
> So...yeah. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Comments really are appreciated. I read every one of them and smile. Sometimes I come back just to read them over and over again.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter sleeps a lot.  
> And Ronan can actually be nice??????

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wa a gonna make this chapter longer but I haven't updated in like 5 days and I dosing want to keep you waiting.  
> I know how bad that sucks.  
> I've been waiting for everyone else to update their stories for like a billion years  
> ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)  
> It's no fun.
> 
> I apologize if this chapter seems rushed, and for the short-ness.

Peter woke to the sensation of someone rubbing his hair.

"Hmm, what happened?" He didn't bother to open his eyes. Right now, he felt like he was in a somewhat comfortable place. He was laying in a soft bed (not as soft as his usual bed, but good enough compared to the chair and bunk on the Milano.)

"You got stabbed. And shot. And stabbed again," Ronan's voice came from somewhere above him.

Peter opened his eyes, looking up at the Kree who was hovering over him. He was wearing a childish pout on his face and the black paint had been wiped away for the most part, leaving behind gray stains on Ronan's face. "You were also asleep for a long time."

"No wonder everything hurts like a bitch," Peter said, attempting to sit up. He only made it a few inches up before the pain in his side got way too intense.

"Lay down," Ronan said, gently pushing him back down. "You're going to hurt yourself even more."

Peter sighed. He couldn't even move. Great.

"Did they take the bullet out of my leg?" He asked, looking at the wrapped appendage.

"Yes." Ronan took a seat to the left of Peter.

"Man...I think got the shit beat out of me by everyone these last few days..."

"Really? I couldn't tell."

Peter fake gasped. "Ronan? Being sarcastic?!"

The Kree chuckled.

Peter smiled. This defiantly wasn't the bloodthirsty man everyone said Ronan was.

"They want you to stay down here for a while, to make sure your wounds don't get infected or end up fatal," Ronan informed. "Personally, I think you would be just as fine resting in our own quarters instead of the med bay, but the medical staff insisted."

"Fire them all and hire a new one," Peter said, he reached out his left hand for Ronan to hold. The Kree complied.

"I should." He sighed. "I was worried about you Peter. It was...strange, not having your presence on the Dark Aster. But these last hours, I was extremely worried. You passed out, and you were bleeding heavily and all over everything. You looked pale and sickly. I thought you'd be dead within the following hour." He stood up, again, leaning over Peter. His other hand lightly caressed the side of Peter's face, being mindful of the scrapes and scratches. "I was happy to know you'd be okay." He leaned closer.

"I escaped death so I can be here to annoy the shit out of you." Peter said, killing the mood.

Ronan sat back down and rolled his eyes. "I was going to kiss you, but you made me change my mind."

"Wait, no, kiss me!" Peter said, forcing himself to sit up despite the pain in his side. "Please. Just snog the fuck outta me, I haven't kissed you in a long time."

Ronan scooted closer, leaning in to brush his blue lips against Peter's soft pink ones. Peter slung his good arm, the left one, around Ronan's neck, pulling him closer to full on makeout.

When he finally pulled away to take a good breath, Peter grinned. "That was way better. Good quality snogging." He settled back down in the bed, wincing at the pains as he moved. "Shit...can I get some painkillers? Im hurting like a bitch right now."

He could've sworn that he heard Ronan sarcastically mumble "you are a bitch" as he got up to retrieve the medicine for Peter.

 

Peter greedily snatched the bottle of medicine from the Kree. "Thank god...I feel like I'm dying here. How many do I take?"

"Two capsules."

"Alright, I'm taking five."

"Peter--"

"Shhhh, shut up. Im gonna take five pills, and then I'm probably gonna take a nap because I feel really tired."

Ronan sighed and re-took his seat beside Peter's bed. "Do whatever helps you regain your full health."

Peter nodded, swallowing five of the capsules and settling down in the bed, taking Ronan's hand.

"Okay, but all happy re-uniting feelings aside, we really, really need to talk. About a lot of things," Peter said, giving Ronan's hand a light squeeze. "Seriously. It's gonna be a really long talk."

"About what?"

Peter looked up at the Kree. "A lot of things. But, that's a conversation for later. Right now, I'm super tired, I'll sleep."

Ronan nodded in agreement, brushing his hand softly over Peter's hair. "Sleep, then. I will be here when you wake."

Peter smiled, closing his eyes. "You're being so nice to me right now...you haven't been this nice in a long time. I like you better like this, instead of just having you ignore me 90% of the time."

"I do not ignore--"

"Yes," Peter opened his eyes and frowned "You do. A lot. You've been ignoring me a lot recently. Especially since you teamed up with Thanos' daughters, for god-knows-what! Before, you had no problem just wrapping your arms around me or just holding me when I was being annoying! Well, the constant hugging on and kissing is because I love you, but it's also because I find it amusing to annoy you sometimes. It's just...not as amusing when you growl at me or glare like I've wounded every ounce of pride that you have. That's not the kind of reaction I look for...it's not even for show. You do it when we're alone, too. You've recently either seemed annoyed by the fact that I exist, or you've ignored me...I get that you have to keep up your reputation of big bad Accuser, but don't change everything about yourself...continue to be the dude I fell in love with! Besides, whatever pride you were trying to hold on to slipped away when I bitch-slapped you back on Knowhere..."

"I deserved that."

"You did," Peter nodded. "Anyways, that was one of the things I wanted to talk about," The Terran let out a yawn. "We'll talk about the rest some other time, I'm actually gonna go to sleep right now. You should also probably change out of your armor. It looks heavy and uncomfortable."

 

 

Peter woke, later, to something softly tickling his arm. He pried open his eyes and glance downward. Ronan was snoozing, his arms were folded and he was leaned on the bed with his head resting on top of them.

He'd dressed down, like Peter had suggested. He was still wearing all black, black pants, black jacket, black boots, but at least it wasn't the armor. He didn't have a headpiece on either, setting free a cloud of brownish-black hair with tufts stick up in every direction.

So that's what was tickling his arm.

He picked up his hand, running it through the thick, soft hair, chuckling.

"Get up, sleepy smurf."

Ronan stirred a tiny bit, but didn't move.

"Your hair is super thick...shouldn't you have shaved it by now?" He continued to brush his fingers through the dark hair. If it weren't for the bright lighting and his being close to the Kree, Peter would've thought Ronan's hair was jet black. It was such a dark shade of brown, it was hard to tell. But he did know one thing, it was always soft. "On second hand...your hair is really soft. It looks good on you. I think it's cute--"

"I am not cute." Ronan lifted his head. He looked tired and his hair was sticking up in every direction, making him look more youthful. It was cute.

"Oh, good. You're awake. But, you know, if you're really tired, you can go to our room and sleep."

"I was not tired."

"Really, sleepy head? You were sleeping two minuets ago."

"I was not."

"You were even snoring, I heard you!"

"I do not snore," the Kree frowned.

"Yes you do. You snore loudly and you sound like a bear."

"I do not!...What's a bear?"

Peter chuckled, "It's a big Terran animal. They're kinda cute, but also really scary. Some of them have been known to maul people, and they can be aggressive if you get too close to their babies. They also growl and roar a lot. And they're super strong. I saw one once when I was little and it scared me. I went hunting with my grandpa and it came out of nowhere. I cried so hard that Grandpa had to cut our hunting trip short and carry me back to his cabin."

"If we even encounter a...bear, I will kill it." Ronan stated.

"Why?"

"Because it might hurt you," Ronan said, sitting up.

"What if it's not doing anything?"

"I do not want you to be hurt."

"Awww, babe! You care about me!"

 

-—-•-—-•-—-

 

Gamora sat at the table inside the Milano, the others sitting around as well.

"I can't get the flarkin' thing to work!" Rocket said, running his paws through his furr. "I don't understand it, I just can't! There ain't no reason that a ship should just stop working like that--"

The mammal was cut off by a short, rapid beeping sound as the hatch to the Milano opened and a few moments later, in to the kitchen stepped a skinny, pale-skinned man wearing red leathers and a mohawk. "Where's Peter?"

"Who the fuck are you!?" Rocket said, jumping up on the table, pulling out a gun and aiming it at the man.

"Kraglin," the man identified, not even flinching at the raccoon's large weapon. He made his way past the table and directly to the cupboards, pulling out whatever food he deemed best-tasting and then walking up into the cockpit. The others followed.

"What are ya doin' here!?" Rocket said, hopping into the pilot's seat and glaring at him.

"I'm looking for Peter. Ain't that obvious?" Kraglin asked as he shooed Rocket out of the seat and sat down, beginning to turn switches and such.

"It ain't gonna work. We tried to get it started. We did everything," Rocket said. He crossed his arms and glared at the man, but a small smirk played on his lips. This idiot thought he could walk in here and do what everyone else could't.

"Yeah, okay," Kraglin said, rolling his eyes and typing in a few codes on the holoscreens, starting the ship up.

"What!?" Rocket exclaimed, looking up at the man in disbelief as the engine roared to life.

"When one of our ships gets shut down, it sends a message to the Elector to let us know what's up. Peter obviously ain't here, but wherever he is, he was able to get in to the Milano and shut it down. He's probably tracking it down, too. See, stealing a Ravager's ship is almost as bad as killing a crew member," Kraglin said. "One of the worst crimes. Peter worked his ass off for this ship."

"But...how did you start the ship?" Gamora asked.

"Override codes...me an' cap got the codes for every damn ship on the elector. Not that we ever really had to use em, 'cept on Peter 'cause he's always fuckin up, but whatever. I'm gonna find him and return the ship to him, aight? Y'all can go do...whatever it is afterward."

"Afterward?" Rocket echoed.

"Yeah. After he beats the living hell outta ya for stealing his ship. I'll help him, of course, but I'm positive he'll do it mostly on his own."

"Why do you care so much about the loud, puny Terran? He works for Ronan, he is no good," Drax said.

Kraglin spun around in the chair to face him. (It was a good thing the Milano had rotating chairs. It was Peter's childish idea, really. He wanted to be able to spin around in the chairs...)

"See, that 'loud, Puny Terran' is my little brother," Kraglin said. "I'm the guy that shows up when somethin' unsettlin' is happenin' to him. Im one of the few guys who gets to mess with Peter and get away with it. Quite frankly, I don't care who Peter works for, 's long as it ain't someone who'll kill 'im when the job is done, and honestly, I ain't about to give a damn about Peter being with Ronan. He ain't working for him, either. Peter's been with Ronan for a long time, and ain't none of it ‘Work’."

"He told us that earlier," Rocket said.

"'Cuz he ain't. He ain't working for him. He ain't even working with him. See, when Peter met Ronan, he was so happy…Have ya ever seen someone be in love? It's disgusting. Pete was obviously all over Ronan like he was somethin' worth wantin'. If ya kids ever wanna know what true love looks like, ya should look at the way Quill looks at Ronan," Kraglin turned his chair back around to continue piloting. "It's gross. I've never been one for love, bother have most Ravagers...it's gross and ain't worth my valuable time, but Ronan makes Peter happy and that's all I care about. He don't hurt him or treat him bad. That giant freak's actually good to my brother. And if it ever turns out that he ain't so great to Peter anymore, I'll bash his pretty blue head in. No one gets to hurt my brother but me." The Ravager shrugged. "Now, we're gonna go find our annoying little shit named Quill."

 

—-•-—-•-—

 

Peter had spent a few more days in the medbay, at least until the knife wound on his left side stopped bleeding through the bandages and he could walk without trying not to cry in pain. 

Ronan was by his side the entire time, only leaving if need be.

The first thing he did when he got out three days ago was track down the Milano and shut it down. There was no way in hell he was gonna let that band of assholes make off with his precious ship. He'd worked his ass off for the Milano for 15 years!

The ship was planet side when he did so. Which was good. Maybe he'd take a pod and go get it sometime soon.

 

The human frowned as he saw that the Milano was back up and moving. It wasn't possible. The shutdown prevented it from starting, even if someone (Rocket) got inside and messed with the wiring. That meant that someone with the override codes has gotten the ship working. Either Yondu or Kraglin had tracked the ship down and taken it. Maybe they were trying to bait him? Trying to get him to go after the ship so they could kill him for the whole orb ordeal? The Ravagers had the orb, anyways. It was in the pocket of the vest he was wearing.

He felt a strong pair of arms snake around him and he tilted his head back to look up at Ronan.

"I will send a group of warriors to retrieve your ship," Ronan said, glancing down at Peter.

Peter nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." He turned around in Ronan's arm to face him, his back pressing against the desk behind him. He only came up to Ronan's shoulder, because the Kree was so tall, so he had to stand on his toes and Ronan had to lean downward the slightest bit so they could press their lips together.

After a short while, Peter pulled away and sat up on the desk behind him. It gave him a height boost, and he was almost eye to eye with Ronan now. The Kree leaned forward, gently touching their foreheads together in a small moment of affection.

Peter wrapped his arms around Ronan and moved to rest his head on the larger man's shoulder. "I love you, so much."

"I know." Ronan replied.

"No. Say it back," Peter demanded, burying his face against the Kree warriors neck. "Tell me that you love me."

"Why?"

"Because I want to hear you say it. Do it, tell me that you love me. No half assed or complicated shit. Just a plain 'I love you' to me." Peter said, placing a soft kiss on Ronan's blue neck. "Go on, say it."

After a moment, there's a quiet mumble from the accuser.

"Louder," Peter said. "Say it louder."

Ronan sighed.

"It's not gonna kill you, dude."

"Iloveyou."

"Slower."

"I love you, Peter Quill."

"I know," Peter smirked, sitting up to kiss Ronan's cheek. "Did that kill you?"

"Yes. I'm dying from the inside out. I can feel it. My heart is burning up. I will drop dead in seconds."

Peter chuckled, reaching a hand up to brush through Ronan's hair. "Sarcastic asshole. Anyways, earlier, on the map, I saw that we were headed somewhere on the abandoned section of the quadrant...Where are we going?"

Ronan looked down at him. "You will have to come with me. It's a secure place. You are not supposed to know about it, though." Ronan said. "And we are to leave right about...now." 

"Why?"

"Only a select few know about it. Once you know, you cannot tell anyone."

Peter frowned, following Ronan as he walked toward the ship hangar. "Is it dangerous?"

"Not at all. But it is quite a ways and we will have to board a smaller, stealth ship on several hours. I suggest you get some rest once we leave."

"Sure..." Peter trailed off as the Kree led him toward the back, where few stealth ships were parked. They were different than normal pods or ships. These were made of sleek, shiny, black metals. They weren't very big either. Maybe enough to fit two people comfortably.

"This is the one. We will leave within the next hour. We will be gone for 83 hours, if everything goes as planned. Gather what you need, but do not bring too much."

With that, Peter disappeared to retrieve his favorite blue blanket from their quarters. His Walkman was still on the Milano, unfortunately...

 

 

Ronan's eyes snapped open when something hit him from beside.

He rolled over to find Peter twitching about in his sleep. Emitting from the Terran were small, puppy-like whimpers.

He must've been dreaming about something unpleasant. He was also talking in his sleep, though it made no sense.

Ronan watched on, unsure of what to do.

"Stop!" Peter half-mumbled, arm twitching. "That's not...no."

Ronan blinked. What?

"That was me..." Peter rolled over, curling in on hismelf. "...let me live," he whispered. Then a faint; "Please. He needs me."

Ronan reached out, wrapping his arms around Peter and pulling him close, giving him a reassuring hug. The human's eyes shot open as he sat up, screeching in pain.

"Ow! Ow! Ronan, Stop!" He frantically pried Ronan's arms off of him and gently hovered his hand over the bandages covering the stab wound on his left side. "Owww."

Ronan sat up beside him. "I did not mean to hurt you, Peter."

"I know. But, fuck, that hurt! Were you trying to cuddle me or something!?"

"You were speaking in your sleep." Ronan informed.

"I was? What..." Peter stopped whining about his wound and looked at Ronan. " what was I saying?"

"I don't know," Ronan lied. "You just seemed...troubled."

"I was dreaming about you," Peter admitted, laying back down. He laid curled of on his right side, arm jutting out awkwardly from under him to avoid laying on the healing knife wound. The bullet wound in his right leg, for some reason, didn't bother him as much as the other two.

"Why?"

"Because I love you," Peter said, reaching out to grab the Kree's hand as he, too, laid back down. He placed a soft kiss the the blue palm and grinned. "Duh."

Ronan gave him a small smile, a glimpse of shiny, black teeth peeking from between his lips. "Of course." He pulled Peter closer, again, this time being careful not to touch Peter's wounds. He nuzzled at Peter's hair with his nose, holding him close in a bout of pure, genuine cuddling.

Peter smiled. This was it.  
This was the man he'd fallen in love with it.

 

 

The next time Ronan woke, it was because he felt someone watching him.

Peter.

The Terran sat cross-legged a troubled expression on his face.

"Ronan. We really, really need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comments really have made me happy. I always smile all the time.
> 
> Next chapter, a bit of angst? Not much, it's mostly just Petert being angry and Ronan trying to explain his actions.
> 
> And then Peter's actually in for a big surprise. (And no, it's probably not what you think ok im sorry."


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Ronan have a rushed discussion about the orb and Xandar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ew this chapter is short and gross im sorry.

"That orb that you wanted," Peter jumped right to the point. "Everyone said you were gonna use it to do something terrible and I've been trying to push it in the back of my mind but I can't--I just, Gamora told me you were gonna use it to destroy Xandar! That thing had a freaking infinity stone in it and I had it in my pocket! I had it right here!" He pointed to the left of his chest. "I had a pocket right here and that thing was in it! If that thing would've opened, I'd be dead in seconds! What the hell!? Why would you even want to wipe out Xandar in the first place!? I mean, I know the people there aren't all that great, but that's no reason to kill them all! I love you, I really do, but what's going through that giant head of yours?! Why didn't you tell me you had this dark and evil side and some kind of hatred towards Xandarians? Hell, if you wouldn't have figured out that I was from Terra the moment we met, I would've told you I was a Xandarian! Imagine how differently that would've ended!?" Peter felt his heart sink in his chest. "Oh god, you would've killed me right then and there!" That had been Peter's cover story as a child; He was Kraglin's little brother and they were orphans from Xandar. It wasn't that hard to convince people that that was true.

That would've been sad, Peter thought. On his part, though. Peter had no friends or family. He had the Ravagers, but...crew members died all the time and they crew was forced to get over it quick, because they all knew being a Ravager was risky business. He could've easily been killed if he would've gone with his cover story. Even worse, he wouldn't really have anyone around to miss him. He wouldn't of had the chance to befriend anyone at all that would miss him anyways (not that he was great at making or keeping friends or anything, but whatever. That's not the point.)

 

"Peter, you do not understand."

"I don't think I want to understand!"

"The Xandarian culture deserves to be wiped from existence! They should not thrive so freely as they do now, they should pay for what they have done to the inhabitants of Hala."

Ronan's voice was a deep growl, actually sending a shiver of fear through Peter. He's already gotten off the bed, ready to sprint away and lock himself down in the small cargo hold if things got worse. He'd already began to inch his way toward the door, too.

"Come here, Peter."

The human paused for a moment, then slowly crept forward.

"Many years ago, Hala was attacked by Xandarian soldiers. The Kree were unprepared, resulting in hundreds of thousands killed. Two of their main targets were the large temple, where the highest ranked leaders met occasionally to discuss things such as trade, politics, and the ruling of the people, and a children's hospital. One that happened to be full of patients. None of them survived. There were not many children on Hala to begin with," Ronan said, looking downcast. "Many of them would not survive the first few years of their lives. It led us to believe that our race was dying out. We had to prevent that from happening; All children that surpassed the first three years of life were moved to the main city. To ensure that they would be safe and healthy. But even many of those did not last much longer."

Peter sank down on the bed beside Ronan.

"I was a young and inexperienced warrior at the time. We were told to prepare, incase they were to attack again, and we did. Unfortunately, we were not prepared enough. They attacked, again, attempting to take down the main city. This city was the one place that was heavily guarded, so when they failed, they moved on to nearly destroyed half of the planet, instead. One of the places they destroyed was a woman's academy. Built to teach and train young females into mighty warriors. We were officially at War with Xandar. We needed every bit of strength we could get. They bombed it. Very few survived." The Kree wore a wounded expression. "My wife did not."

Peter was actually shocked. "Wife? You were married before!? You didn't tell me that! You had a wife...Did...did you love her?" He doesn't mean to ask that...

Ronan shook his head. "No part of our relationship was romanticized. We were great friends in our early youth. We'd agreed to marry to end the feud between our grandfathers. With the pair of us legally bonded, our families would have to suck up whatever hateful feelings they had toward eachother. The two of us could remain good friends." He reached out to place a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Though she was my friend and wife, she would never mean as much to me as you do, love."

"My brother's from Xandar," Peter whispered, after a moment. "He doesn't really like it much, but I'd feel really shitty if I let you destroy his home..."

"My actions as an accuser are...morbid, I know this. But they are just, as a person of the Kree race. We signed the peace treaty because we thought it would keep Xandar from harming us further. That still does not mean they can go uncalled for, for what they have done. As for you...I must keep my life and work separate. Before, they were one. And then I found you. I must keep you, my life, separate from the things I do as an accuser, my job, to ensure your safety."

"But..."

"If I would've told you, there is no doubt you would have tried to stop me. I do not want you to interfere with my job. I do not want the Xandarians, or anyone else (Thanos) using you against me. The Xandarians are not above kidnapping and holding you hostage if they knew it would stop me. Lucky for us, they don't know much about my personal life."

Peter took a deep breath, running everything through his mind. This was actually a lot to take in. 

 

-—-•-—-•-—-

"Then he does that thing, when he's sayin' somethin' stupid and he think's everyone's gonna believe him."

"You mean when he nods and widens his eyes--"

"An' he's slack-jawed. Yep. That is exactly what I'm talking about."

Rocket looked between the two. "When are ya gonna stop bonding over how annoying ya think Quill is and get us off this ship!?"

Kraglin and Gamora turned to look at him.

"Soon as we find Peter and he kicks your asses. I already told ya that," Kraglin responded, taking a sip from his beer.

"He ain't kicking anyone's ass." Rocket grumbled, sitting on the table.

"I shall kill him as soon as he is within killing range," Drax vowed.

 

Kraglin groaned internally. He was sure his eyes would've rolled out of his head by now as he rolled them for the billionth time and picked up his blaster from where it rested on the table, aiming it at the tattooed man. "Lay a filthy finger on 'im and ya ain't gonna have to worry 'bout killing anyone 'cuz you'll already be dead."

Drax shut his mouth and nodded, keeping silent. Kraglin turned back to Gamora, slipping out of over-protective big brother mode. "Back to our conversation, woman..."

Rocket looked at Drax. "I'd shut up from now on if I were ya. Apparently Quill's more important to those Ravagers than I thought...probably why they put a high bounty on him."

"High?" Kraglin snorted. "A bounty for 40,000 units is like gettin' spit on. That's dirt work. It's just enough units to get someone to do the job, but not enough to have someone big and important step in. It's easier that way. Dealin' with important people usually ends in trouble. Also, Yondu's a greedy bastard. If he doesn't have to give up a large amount of money, then he won't."

"Still a lot of money..."

"You, sir, are the livin' definition of poor," Kraglin said, then proceeded to gulp down the rest of his beer.

"Ya ain't gotta rub it in," Rocket grumbled, climbing up Groot to rest in the tree's shoulder.

"It's pretty hilarious," Kraglin said. "And, honestly, I'm beginning to wonder how Peter ended up with things like all of you...Peter ain't so great at making friends and you're all idiots."

"I am Groot!"

"Yeah, we ain't idiots! You're the idiot!" Rocket snarled back.

"Only idiots get offended when they get called idiots," Kraglin said.

The raccoon paused for a moment...

"That's what I thought," The Ravager smirked. "Now, if you'll keep your snout shut for the rest of the trip, that would be great. You're only here so Peter can kick your ass. Don't act like there's any other reason."

Wow. Peter's brother was a jerk.

 

-—-•-—-•-—-

Peter woke up, scared out of his mind when he fell off the bed and hit the floor as the ship began to shake rapidly.

Quickly, Ronan got up, leaping over the startled human and sprinting for the cockpit.

"What's happening!?" Peter wailed, following after Ronan, all the while trying to keep his balance on the quaking ship.

The large blue man sand down in the pilot seat and turned the autopilot off. They'd run into a field of asteroids.

"We are close to our destination. It is much sooner than I though."

"That ain't what I asked you!" Peter said, scrambling himself into the other seat and securing himself with the seat belts.

"There's an asteroid field that is constantly moving around the area. We're being hit. And there's...an electric storm?"

"Storms in space?!" Peter clutched they armrests of the seat as the ship was jostled round like a salt shaker. "I thought that was impossible!"

The ship flipped over, and Peter lout out a strangled cry of pain as the arm rest dug into his left side, directly over his healing wound. There was no doubt it'd be re-opened completely.

Ronan's hands worked quickly, one reaching out for Peter while the other was flipping switches, pulling levers, and pressing buttons, working on getting the ship back the right way.

The human's stomach churned in his state of discomfort.  
When the ship jerked, it gave him that crazy sensation in his stomach. Like riding a roller coaster, but less fun. He'd ridden a roller coaster once. Cousin Rick (his mom's youngest cousin) had dared him to ride the biggest roller coaster during their family trip to the nearby amusement park. Peter was skeptical at first, until Rickey bribed him by telling him he'd give Peter $10 if he did. The rollercoaster made Pete's stomach do flips, and it was a bit scary, but Peter eventually began to laugh.

Peter was not laughing now. This was a billion time worse than the feeling on a roller coaster, and it was painful.

"Electric storms usually only happen in the atmosphere of planets." He could hear Ronan beside him.

He was now upside down, being held in place by the seatbelt. "Hurry up and fix this!" He demanded.

"I AM!" Ronan replied. "Just--hold on to my hand!" He, again, reached his hand out in Peter's direction. The Terran grabbed on to it, squeezing it tightly.

"Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" Ronan said, grabbing the ships yoke and managing to finally turn the ship upright.

Peter dropped back into his seat properly with a soft 'thud'. He gently rubbed at his side with his fingers; Ronan glanced at him.

"I will get us out of here. Until then, remain put. After the ship is stable enough, we will see to your wound."

Peter nodded, gripping the armrest of the chair tightly as the ship began to shake again.

 

Once they'd made it through the field, Ronan switched the autopilot back on and got up, unbuckling Peter from his seat and lifting him into his arms.

"Don't hurt me this time," Peter mumbled.

"Im not gonna hurt you," the accuser promised, making his way back to the bunk and placing Peter on the bed. He peeled the Terran's shirt and bandages off and inspected the bleeding wound. "Stay here."

When the Kree returned with a first aid kit moments later, he found Peter wincing and poking at the wound. He kneeled beside him.

"It would not hurt as much if you did not poke it." With a gentleness reserved for only Peter, Ronan began to clean and re-bandage the wound. He wondered why no one stitched it closed. It was deep enough for stitches, but knowing Peter...he'd've probably accidentally pulled them several times by now...

When Ronan was finished wrapping the bandages around his torso, Peter leaned over and planted a small kiss on the Kree's soft hair.

"Don't poke at it again," the Kree said. "It's obviously going to hurt if you stick your grubby fingers all over it."

"Okay," Peter said, laying down on the bed and wrapping himself up with his blue blanket.

"I'm serious," Ronan said, standing.

"Where are you going?"

"To put my armor on."

"Why?"

"Because it is my formal way of addressing people."

"Wait!" Peter sat up. "We're going to meet other people? Who the hell lives out here?!"

Ronan shrugged, but Peter could tell he knew.

 

 

Peter wasn't fond of the place they landed. It was small, dark, and the floor was uneven, causing him to wince every so often when his awkward steps made his side hurt.

"Babe, stop." Peter said. The Kree halted, but said nothing. There was no way in hell Peter was going to walk through this. He jumped, attaching himself to Ronan's back like a monkey. A benefit of having a tall, strong boyfriend; unlimited piggy back rides. "Okay, go."

 

Ronan still said nothing, but he did proceed to walk.

This place kind of creeped Peter out. It was dark, as if it were constantly night time, and everything (the dirt, the soil, the dead trees) was some kind of purpleish-black color. Their destination was a small clump of...buildings? He couldn't tell, they looked like large black shapes in the dark, but there were a few street lights here and there, giving of jut enough light to see the street. It reminded Peter of Knowhere, almost. Just way less people, and way smaller. Speaking of people, he only saw one. It looked to be a guard, standing in front of the run-down looking village.

Once the ground was even enough to walk without tripping, Peter dropped down and opted to walk close to Ronan instead.

They approached the guard, Ronan smiled; Peter stared up at him. He'd hardly ever seen Ronan give a good, genuine smile to anyone who wasn't him.

"Welcome, Accuser." The guard greeted Ronan. Then he looked to Peter skeptically.

"He is trustworthy. He is with me," Ronan stated, snaking an arm around Peter's waist (as best he could with the height difference.)

Peter shifted closer. The guard was staring him down and it was getting kind of creepy. Not to mention the guy had a giant axe propped up against the wall beside him.

"Very well then." He stepped to the side and let Peter and Ronan pass.

"What the hell is this place?" Peter asked, looking around.

 

"There are no more children on Hala." Ronan said, removing his right arm from around Peter's waist and opting to hold the Terran's hand instead. Whoever these people were, Ronan must've been really chill with him. He was willing to walk up in here holding hands with Peter.

"Uh...What happened to them?"

"During the latest Xandarian attack a few years ago, I gathered as many of the children from the city as I could and brought them and as many of their parents here. A lot of them were infants, some of which did not make the journey. Here, though, the surviving children lived longer than they would've on Hala. Some of them were old enough that now, they've grown and had offspring of their own."

Just as he'd finished his speech, a tiny squeal of "Ronan!", followed by several similar ones, pierced the air, and the Kree was bombarded by a little hoard of children.

Peter noticed that there were several other people watching from just about anywhere he would look. And Ronan was actually smiling again? Smiling as the children flocked around him and pulled him in to a group hug.

Ronan sat down on the ground, Peter awkwardly following suit (he was so confused.)

"Hello, children," Ronan's grin grew wider as the smallest of the children, a skinny pale-pink girl, made herself at home in his lap, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck as best she could. The Kree reached up to run his fingers through her long, dark green hair.

"Ronan, Who's that?" One of the other children, a blue-gray boy asked, pointing to Peter. The Terran blushed as suddenly, all the children were looking at him.

"Yeah," one of the older kids, a teenager, asked. He looked similar to the small girl sitting in Ronan's lap. They were both pastel pink with dark green hair and blue yes. "Who is he?"

"This is Peter," Ronan said, gesturing to him. "He is very close to me."

"You were holding his hand earlier!" One of the boys pointed out.

"Yeah! That mean's you love him!" Another girl said.

"Ronan loves Peter!" The girl in Ronan's lap shouted.

Peter chuckled. Children would be children, no matter where they came from.

"How ever would you come up with such an assumption?!" Ronan said, playing along with the children.

"My mom and papa hold hands all the time when they walk together!" One kid pointed out.

"So do mine!" Another.

"Mine do too! And they kiss each other!"

A collective whine of "Eeewww!" rippled through the children.

"They kiss?" Ronan's asked. "You mean like this?" He turned to Peter and pulled the smaller man closer, pressing his lips against Peter's.

Of course, all the smaller kids covered their eyes and shrieked "eeeew!" while some of the older kids actually "aww'd" at them.

Ronan pulled away and gave Peter a reassuring smile, which Peter returned.

"Now, children, I am very glad to see all of you living and well, but if you will excuse me, I have something important to attend to...Peter? Will you stay here with the children?"

Peter looked up at the Kree who was now standing.

"Sure! Kids are great, I'll stay with them." Peter loved kids. Not that he really wanted any of his own...

Ronan nodded and stepped out of the flock of Kree children, disappearing into one of the buildings.

"Can we ask you questions?" Asked the little girl who had been sitting in Ronan's lap. She toddled over to him, crawling into his lap now.

"Um, sure? Ask what you want, I will try to give you my best answer."

One of the kids immediately raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Where are you from?" He asked. All the kids, even the teenagers, nodded in agreement.

"Me? Well, I come from a planet called Terra. It's really far away from here. The people there don't know about life on other planets, though. Honestly, the Terran's are pretty dumb..."

"How did you get out here?"

"When I was ten years old, I was taken from my planet. I don't know why, but they wanted to eat me! I was really scared, too..."

"Oh! Oh! I have a really good question!" A little girl said, standing up. "Is your hair real? Can I touch it!?"

"Uh...sure?"

With that, several of the children made their way forward to rub Peter's hair, fascinated by the color. They'd probably never seen orange hair before...

 

"Ronan...you know it is uncommon--even frowned upon--for a Kree to re-marry after their spouse is gone," a young man said, standing behind Ronan as the Accused leaned in the doorway, watching Peter interacting nicely with the children.

"I do not care, T'Marr." Ronan said. T'Marr had been one of the oldest kids to make the journey from Hala. He'd grown up in the last few years, resulting in a great friend for Ronan. He was the most understanding. Someone Ronan could talk to almost anything about, as well as working with. After they'd talked business for a while, they'd slipped into a casual conversation...about Peter. "I just do not know..."

"Do you not know if it is the timing that is right, or the selection?" T'Marr asked, watching as the children mauled Peter's hair with their tiny hands for several minuets.

"I am not sure. Still, it is a rough decision to make," Ronan said.

 

"Peter? Are you married to Ronan?" One of the little girls asked.

Peter blushed again. "Well...no. We aren't married, but...I hope one day, we will be. I mean...I really love him, and I want to be with him for a really long time, even if he is a little bit crazy..."

Ronan looked back at T'Marr. "I have made my decision."

 

Peter chuckled nervously. These children were asking many, personal questions. They really knew how to make a guy somewhat uncomfortable. To be honest, he'd never really considered being married to Ronan. Would Ronan even want to be married to him? The last person he married was killed! Before she even got to lead a full life! But...he really loved Ronan. Being married to him was a great possibility...

"How did you meet Ronan?" One of the children asked, pulling Peter out of his thoughts.

He looked around. He was surrounded by innocent little children. There was no harm in telling the truth for once in his life...

"Well, I met Ronan not too long ago..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHA I BET YOU THOUGHT YOU'D GET TO HEAR THE STORY  
> but you won't
> 
> but you DO get to know that Ronana and Peter want to be married
> 
> Anyways. IM ALWAYS A SLUT FOR COMMENTS. So comment. Give me suggestions, tell me what you liked, tell me what you wanna see.
> 
>  
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan is a really big sweetheart.  
> And the Collector finds out that some of his exhibits are annoyingly intelligent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't contain much and it's really short. My first semester of school starts one week from today, so I don't know how much updating will get done after that. I just have to spit this chapter out real quick because I haven't updated in 6 days...

Ronan returned to find Peter kneeling on the floor, the smaller children climbing all over him and huddling around him. Apparently, Peter was great with kids.

"Babe!" Peter stood up, a child hanging from each arm and Divaak, the small girl from earlier, clinging to his back. Another child, a small blue-skinned boy, clung to Peter's leg. "They're holding me prisoner!" The small huddle of little kids around Peter giggled collectively.

"Good job." Ronan said to the children, giving them a smile.

They all beamed with happiness and continued to maul Peter until he was laid out on the floor. Ronan took a seat beside them.

 

Quickly, Peter'd sat up, scooting over to sit close beside Ronan, their shoulders touching. The children backed off and formed a semi circle around them.

"Peter! Tell us another story!" Divaak requested, sitting directly in front of the pair.

Peter chuckled nervously, "I don't think my other stories are for little ears."

She pouted.

"Don't worry. If Ronan ever brings me back here, I will have a lot more adventures to tell you about. I'll tell you each and every little detail," He promised, reading his head on Ronan's shoulder. "Maybe Ronan has some stories to share?"

"No, his stories are boring compared to yours," one of the older kids said.

"What did you tell them!?" Ronan looked down at Peter. "They've always loved my stories..."

"I told them real stories. I just skipped over some of the bad things."

"Your tales are not that intriguing."

"Um, yes they are! You're just jealous because I'm cooler."

"Oh, that is obviously the current situation." Ronan playfully rolled his eyes.

"Just admit it! Im cooler than you!" Peter stuck his tongue out.

"You should put that away before it ends up in my mouth," Ronan said, smirking and whispering lowly.

Peter widened his eyes and laughed, "Oh my god, Ronan! There's kids here!"

"I am aware," Ronan replied, wrapping an arm around Peter and pulling him snug against his side. "That's why you should behave yourself."

 

-—-•-—-•-—-

 

Tivan sat against a wall, nursing yet another headache. The place still needed to be cleaned up and everything was either dead or had escaped. Except for the duck. The annoying bird stuck around, for some odd reason. Not that he really cared. As soon as the place was back in order (if it ever got that way), he was locking it back up. All it did was talk nonstop and consume more than enough of his alcohol. Maybe he should kill it and stuff it instead. No one was around to stop him.

Many people fled Knowhere after the destruction of the collector's shop. Either their shops were destroyed, or they were scared off by Ronan's army.

Again, it's not like said collector cared.

Less people. More peace and quiet. He could sit here and drink, and then sleep for a hundred years. That seemed like a good plan.

His thoughts were interrupted, though, by a crescendoing growling that echoed through the remains of his building.

Alarmed, he looked up just as a figure stepped into the dull light before him.

Cosmo.

The Terran animal he'd kept locked away for the last six years. And in his jaws, what looked to be a knife of some sort.

He dropped the knife and took a seat in front of the collector. The helmet to his space-suit had been shattered completely, leaving behind only tiny flecks of shiny glass that littered the dog's head and neck fur. Practically invisible if it wasn't for the light shining on him, making the pieces reflect the light and speckle his neck, giving the appearance of tiny stars buried in the fur. He also noticed the patch of blood staining the right side of the dog's neck, right behind the ear.

"You do have some apologies to be makink." The dog spoke. He didn't know it could speak. "And then you will help me get out of here. If not, you will be havink this knife tearink through your skull. Do you understand what Cosmo say?"

Tivan only stared at the dog. For the longest time he'd thought it was just a weak Terran thing, incapable of interaction with higher life forms.

"You did not expect Cosmo to be this smart, no?" The dog seemed to smirk at him as he lifted his head proudly. "Well, I will let you know that I am more intelligent than I have let on. Or than you have thought me to be. I have installed my own translatink chip. Now you can understand what I speak."

"What could you possible want from me?" The Collector asked, shoveling down his surprise and forcing himself to sound bored and uninterested.

"As much units as you can afford to give. I need to acquire a ship so I can get off this...planet. And you also owe me and him," he points his snout in the direction where Howard is sitting, watching on without making a sarcastic remark for once, "an apology."

"Take whatever you want," Tivan sighed. It's not like he had anything anyways. Everything got blown up.

"Even better deal than Cosmo ask for," the dog said, stopping to pick up the knife in his jaws and trudging on to, as the man suggested, take whatever he wanted. 

The collector reluctantly took another sip of his alcoholic beverage and leaned his head back against the wall. He should probably keep his eye on the dog, incase it really did try to stab him, but but didn't feel as worried as he should've been. All he'd wanted was peace and quiet. Instead he got talking animals. First the Raccoon that blew up his shop, then the duck, and now the dog!? Well, at least the dog was leaving. Then he'd have more quiet (if he tuned out the duck.)

"Collector."

Well, fuck him. This is just what he needs. More people interrupting his...nothingness.

He opened his eyes and looked forward, seeing the same group of people that had destroyed his shop in the first pace. Though, the Ravager that was with them was different.

"Out! Get out of my shop!" He snapped, pulling himself up. "You destroyed it, what makes you think I would welcome you back!" He shot a glare at Gamora.

He was about to say something else, but Kraglin interrupted him:

"Cosmo?"

The dog strode past the collector and up to the group. "Comrade, Ravager." The quad-legged mammal greeted. Kraglin knelt, holing out a hand as the dog held out a paw, allowing the Xandarian to shake in greeting.

"Do you remember me?" Kraglin asked.

"Yes. Comrade Kraglin. I remember. I helped you Ravagers with a job many, many years ago. Was long time ago, but Cosmo remember."

"Good... We can use your help instead of Tivan's...you're pretty good at tracking people, right?"

"You think just because I am dog, I can track everything!?"

"Uh--no--that's not what--I'm sorry, I--"

"I am kiddink." Cosmo chuckled. "I can track. I am smart dog."

"Ah, good," Kraglin breathed nervously.

"I still want you out of here. All of you," Tivan said, re-taking his seat against the wall.

Kraglin nodded and led the others outside with Cosmo.

"So, Cosmo," Kraglin started. "You remember my brother, Peter?"

"Piter? Yes. He called me 'puppy' and yanked my tail. How could I forget?"

"He was just a kid, don't hold grudges, man," Kraglin said. "Besides, that was 26 years ago."

"26 years!? Just how old are you!?" Rocket asked, looking at the dog. "Why aren't you dead by now!?" He actually seemed disappointed.

Cosmo glared. "Raccoon." The word was said with such distaste.

"Do you know each other?" Kraglin asked, looking between the two who were now growling at each other.

"This filthy dog has ruined too many things for me!" Rocket spat.

"Back on the Mother Land, we eat hunt raccoons like you for sport!" Cosmo's lips pulled back to reveal sharp teeth.

"There ain't nothing like me!" Rocket's tails fluffed up in anger.

"Guys! Quit!" Kraglin stepped between them, facing Cosmo.

"Yenot," Cosmo mumbled before turning his attention back to Kraglin.

"Speaking of Pete, I need your help finding him...he was last seen here, but these clueless idiots won't tell me where he went. I mean...I doubt these three," he gestured to Drax, Rocket, and Groot, "really know anything. But her," he jerked his thumb in Gamora's direction, "I bet she knows. She just ain't saying..."

Cosmo ponders for a moment. He almost, ALMOST, asked what was in it for him, but...he's not that type of dog. He was practically eternal, in the sense that he wouldn't get old and die due to aging. One pro of whatever illegal experiments happened to him back in Russia. He doesn't bother to remember many of the experiments. They all took place as preparation for his space journey, anyways...He would live for a really long time, age slower, and probably out-live some of the people out here. He didn't need to spend his life making money. That's down thing people, or animals, with short lives did. He spared a glance at Rocket.

"Fine...Cosmo will help. Ravagers saved me life, I shall be helpink in return." He lifted his paw, and Kraglin reached out to make the confirming handshake.

"You know, also...if you ever need a place to make a few quick units and actually do some work, Yondu's pretty much open to most forms of help. And finding new team members."

"I will take into consideration...Now, let us find this brother of yours..."

-—-•-—-•-—-

"You know...sometimes it really amazes me. Just how much stars there can be in a galaxy. I mean, I spent the last 26 or so years out in space, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I sill amazes me...everything that's out there. G--someone told me that there's other galaxies, way past the Milky Way. But no one ever travels out there because it takes too much time. The closest one is 15 years away..." Peter blinked up at the stars, only taking a brief moment to spare a glance at Ronan. "The Milky Way is what we called our galaxy back on Terra...I don't know what it's officially called throughout the universe or anything."

The pair had found their way to a nearby field with surprisingly soft grass and had settled down to stargaze. It was Peter's idea, of course. Ronan didn't really give a damn about the stars. They were just fucking stars. There was trillions of them. But Peter had enjoyed them, and he enjoyed watching and talking about them. Whatever brought his Terran joy, in turn, brought Ronan joy. As soon as they'd settled in to the grass, Peter had cuddled up close to Ronan, head resting on the Kree's chest, facing upward. Over the course of several minuets, they'd shifted positions, and Divaak had found them made herself comfortable by wedging between them, cuddling close to the two of them.

It was sweet, really. Peter had noticed that she must really crave attention. But she was little and cute, and Peter would cuddle her forever if he could.

He glanced down at the child. She was curled up into a little ball, her face pressed into Ronan's side. Ronan suddenly didn't seem so big and bad anymore; he was lain out on a patch of dirt and grass, stargazing with his boyfriend, a tiny child pressed up against him. Peter wondered if this is what it would be like if he and Ronan ever had children.

Would they all be swamped in a giant cuddle pile from time to time?

He shifted his gaze back to the stars. Kids were adorable. Peter loved kids, yes. But he wasn't sure he actually wanted any of his own. First of all, it could be virtually impossible to have kids with Ronan. And he wasn't sure about adopting. If you adopted a kid, that was kind of like taking them and forcing them to live with you. Just like he was taken from Terra and 'adopted' by the Ravagers. Of course, not all adoptions were like that. But if he adopted a kid and it grew up to hate him, he'd probably end up feeling like he kidnapped him or her and forced them to live with him until they could go out on their own. Not very appealing.

He casted his eyes back down to the sleeping child huddled against Ronan. Maybe they should just adopt her, he thought jokingly. She didn't look like she was capable of ever hating anyone.

"We should probably take her back home. Mirrak will begin to worry as to why she's been out so late," Ronan's voice rumbled beside him, breaking his train of thought.

"Mirrak?"

"Her brother," Ronan enlightened, standing up with the child tucked carefully in his arms. "They're the last two remaining in their family. Their father lost his life fighting against the Xandarians...their mother did not make the journey here from Hala...he's been watching after her and doing all he can to make sure she stays safe."

Peter nodded, a melancholy expression on his face. He knew what it was like to lose your mother. Horrible.

"Okay...but walk slowly. We don't want her waking up," Peter said, already beginning to stroll down the way they came.

 

 

"Thank you, Ronan," Mirrak took the sleeping child from the Accuser and deposited her in her bed, located in a small room inside the equally small house.

"The two of you live here alone?" Peter asked as the older brother re-approached the couple. He noticed that Mirrak was the teenager from earlier, the one he'd correctly assumed was Divaak's brother.

Mirrak nodded. "I work with one of the village elders...she pays me enough to keep the two of us steady. I would probably be getting paid less if it weren't for Ronan helping us all out with supplies and units..."

Sometimes, Ronan was actually a really good guy.

They're silent for a moment.

 

"You know...I wish she would've gotten the chance to know mother better," Mirrak told Ronan. "She's an exact copy. Looks, personality, even the way she walks! Everything!"

Ronan pulled the the teenager in for a strong hug. Mirrak didn't pull away or fuss like they thought he would. Instead he leaned against the Kree.

"I also wish she could grow up better than this...I wish the smaller ones could've seen the way we used to thrive and run happily in the golden streets of Hala. Yes. The children live longer and have excellent health here, but...this place is not the healthy Halan land that they should be on. If one thing even remotely health-damaging happens to one of these children, there is absolutely no guarantee they will survive. Even the smallest cut could easily get infected and harm them greatly. No one here is very experienced in medical work...it's just 'as long as they don't get hurt, they will stay healthy.' If I am not mistaken, a large part of being a child is getting hurt. It just makes life all the more adventurous."

Peter listened to the boy speak. What he'd said was true. Getting hurt was part of childhood. Part of the adventure of being careless and young. You got hurt, healed from it, and then added it to your mental file of stories to tell in the future.

Except, with these kids, if they got hurt, they might not survive to add the story to their mental files.

"It is not the childhood she, or any of the other children, should have." Ronan pulled away, reaching up to wipe at one of the boy's wet eyes (he'd started tearing up while talking), "But she will, for sure, remember all that you have done to make sure she gets to live through her childhood. She will remember all the times her older brother had protected her from harm. She will be grateful."

Mirrak chuckled. "And she will remember Ronan. And all the times that she constantly asked said older brother when he was coming back."

The Kree nodded. "Yes. That too."

"Thank you, again, Ronan," Mirrak said, seeing the pair to the door. "It was nice to meet you, Peter."

Peter nodded, giving the boy a handshake. "Great meeting you, too. Stay safe, okay dude?" The teenager nodded.

 

"Wow, babe. I didn't know you had such a heart in this big solid chest of yours," Peter joked, knocking on Ronan's chest plate.

"It is buried deep down inside. Reserved for only the most important people."

"Am I one of them?"

"Of course, Peter Quill."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was mainly written to introduce Cosmo to the story. I'm not sure if he's going to play a permanately major role in this story, or just a major roll in a chapter or two ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> But he is a character that will appear in this story, and in the possible sequel (if I ever get around to finishing this and writing one...)  
> I don't think there will be much fluff in the rest of the story...Nebula, Yondu, and the orb will come back, though. So you can count on that.
> 
> It's 3:30 AM right now :) there's probably a lot of mistakes in this chapter


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope there's not mistakes because it's like 3 AM and I'm too tired to read over it and makes sure I got everything right.
> 
> This chapter goes from 'aw' to 'no!' Really really really fast.
> 
> Y'all will hate me.

Peter had been reluctant to leave. The children were great and the Kree there were nice to him, very welcoming. Apparently, any friend or, in Peter's case, lover of Ronan was immediately welcomed.

But Ronan had informed him that he could not stay long, for the safety of the residents. He didn't want to risk anyone harming them. Or harming him and Peter. Though they were far from any danger now, Peter still seemed troubled. Ronan had noticed that.

"Imagine if we had children," Peter chuckled, relaxing in the ship's seat. "One hell of an experience that would be."

"Would you want children?" Ronan asked, not taking his eyes off the control console.

"Well...no. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the life of a child. I'm not father material..."

"I understand. We lead such dangerous lives, balancing a child along with important business is an extremely difficult task."

Peter nodded.

 

As soon as they were out of the asteroid field, Peter untangled himself from the harness of his seat and stood up, striding over to Ronan. He plopped himself down in the Kree's lap without a word.

"What are you doing?"

"Im finding a more comfortable seat."

"On me?"

"Yes. You make a great seat." He leaned back, resting against Ronan's chest.

Ronan rolled his eyes, "You should be sitting on my lap for other reasons."

"Ronan!" Peter sat up and elbowed the Kree, who began to laugh while securing an arm around Peter to keep him from falling off his lap. "Dude, okay, that was funny, but really inappropriate!"

"It was spoken with truth."

"Yeah, but...save the dirty talk for the bedroom, dude!"

"We don't do anything in the bedroom," Ronan stated flatly.

"Well, that's your fault!" Peter huffed.

"How is it my fault!?"

"Because you suck at seducing me. C'mon, man. You gotta make me want it. Give me a reason to spread my legs for you."

"...Whatever. Shut up."

Peter reached up to pat the side of Ronan's face. "Good luck getting me in bed with that attitude."

"Imbecile," Ronan mumbled into Peter's ear before placing a trail of soft kisses on the smaller man's neck.

"Hey! This stops right here. Cut it out." Peter frowned, lightly pushing Ronan's head away. "It's not the time or place to get it on. Chill."

Ronan grumbled, reluctantly settling back in the chair and snaking his other arm around Peter.

"Perhaps some other time?"

"No."

Ronan frowned. "What's wrong?"

Peter was being moody.

"It's nothing, really..."

"Tell me," Ronan said, unwrapping one arm from around Peter, and bringing it up to pet at Peter's soft hair.

"I want my Walkman. It got left back on the Milano..."

"You are upset by this..."

Peter nodded, "Yeah. It's your fault. You didn't even go and get it for me while I was passed out."

"I know. I'm such a horrible lover for worrying about your well being instead of your cassette tapes, aren't I?" The Kree said sarcastically.

"Horrible," Peter said, turning and placing a kiss on Ronan's cheek. "Absolutely horrible. I'm gonna break up with you."

"Not if I leave you first."

"I hate you so much," this time, his kiss landed on Ronan's lips due to the Kree turning his head.

"I hate you more. You ruin my reputation."

"I hate you the most." Another kiss.

"You make me sick."

"Sometimes I sit down and think to myself, 'How did I end up with such a tool and why do I still have him around?'" Said Peter with a dorky grin as he got up and changed positions. He was now straddling Ronan's lap so he could kiss the warrior easier. "You know, I think I should just get rid of him."

"I bet he would like that," Ronan joked back before Peter leaned in to kiss him again.

"Or...I could hang on to him for a little bit longer and make out with him?"

"Peter, you said-"

"I said we weren't gonna have sex. I didn't was I wasn't gonna snog you."

"I see...then, proceed." He placed his hands on Peter's hip. "Snog me."

-—-•-—-•-—-

 

A few days later found them a safe return to the Dark Aster.

Though Peter wouldn't say it out loud, he was kind of glad for the absence of Gamora and Nebula. With the sisters gone, Ronan was willing to show Peter more affection and a softer side. Deep down inside, there was still that uneasy feeling about Ronan's planned actions. The orb that he was after was dangerous, and he wanted to use it to destroy an entire planet, maybe even more.

The Terran emitted a sigh and uncurled himself from the gymnast bar he had been wrapped around to sit on top of it.

After discovering Peter's acrobatic skills, Ronan had one of the sparring rooms converted into some kind of training room for Peter, complete with hoops, bars, walls at various heights, ropes, ladders, and just about anything Peter could parkour through.

If he were back on Terra, he could probably leap and haul his way through an American Ninja Warrior course with ease.

"Peter." Ronan's voice sounded from the entrance of the room.

Peter leaned back, keeping his legs hooked on the bars so he could hang upside down. "Hey!"

The Kree hauled himself over a steep climbing ramp and trudged over to the smaller man. Parkour was not his thing. How did Peter do this so easily?!

"I've found you."

Peter grinned. "Yeah. Thought I should practice a bit...I don't want to bend myself out of shape."

"I've been looking for you."

"Why."

"I only wanted to know where you were."

Peter smiled again, reaching out to grab Ronan's shoulders. He guided the man forward until their faces were only inches apart; Then he leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

"You wanted to know what I was up to?" Asked Peter as he pulled away.

Ronan nodded. "I had to make sure you were not injuring yourself."

Peter scoffed, "Me? Hurt myself!? I would never--AH!" The Terran shrieked as he slipped from the bar.

Luckily, Ronan had caught him before his slammed headfirst into the floor, "You were saying?"

"That was an accident!"

"I highly doubt it." He set Peter down.

"Are you saying I fell on purpose?" He placed his hands on Ronan's shoulders again and stood on his toes. "Is that what you're saying?" He stretched himself up higher and leaned forward, making to kiss the Accuser.

"Ronan." A voice interrupted them from the doorway.

"Korath," Ronan acknowledged, quickly pulling on a poker face as he turned to face the man. Time for him to act like the stuck up Accuser again (and act like Peter only annoyed him.) Peter's face flushed red. He'd forgotten that they weren't completely alone anymore. "What is it?"

"Your Terran's presence is requested in the hangar."

Peter's facial features dropped to a scowl. Why'd they always have to talk about him like he's some kind of pet!?

"For what?" He asked before Ronan could say anything else.

"It's personal...to you."

Peter looked at Ronan, who shrugged in return. If it was personal to Peter, he should try his hardest not to interfere.

 

-—-•-—-•-—-  
"He's not an intruder let him go! Let ME go! Fucking hell! Don't kill them!" Peter was shouting at the top of his lungs.

He'd rushed as fast as he could to the Dark Aster's hangar when he'd heard the news of Nebula returning...with the Milano. It struck Peter as more than strange for her to drag his ship back here. It must've had something she wanted in it. He thinks that it must've been Gamora who was piloting the ship, and maybe that's what actually got the blue witch to retrieve it. What he didn't think he'd end up seeing, though, was a freaking army of Sakaarans holding hostage Gamora, Rocket, Drax, Groot, a dog, and...Kraglin. He also didn't appreciate the way they had their guns pointed at his brother and accused him of being an intruder (which didn't make sense...Nebula had brought them here. He wasn't intruding.)  
But he absolutely hated they way two of the ugly creatures held him back and prevented him from interfering with his own business!

"Put your fucking weapons down and leave him alone! He's welcomed here!" Peter tried yelling at them. Again.

"He is Xandarian!" One of the Sakaarans hissed.

"He's my brother!" Where the fuck is Ronan and that giant war hammer when you needed him!?

He only got a growl in reply.

"Fuck you guys!" Peter said, angrily sweeping the legs out from under the Sakaaran to his right. He used a fraction of his strength to shove over the one to his left and yank it's blaster from it's hands. Quickly, he rushed over to stand between the army and the small group of hostages. "Back up, all of you."

They aimed their weapons at him. He groaned internally.

"If you're working for Ronan, you're also working for me! And when I say back up, I mean back up!" He began to charge the blaster.

Quickly, each Sakaaran lowered it's weapon.

"Now get out of here! None of ya got business being here!"

Thankfully, they listened.

With the room empty, save for Peter and the group that had previously been aboard the Milano, Peter let himself relax. No one was trying to kill him now.

He whirled around, making a mad dash for Kraglin and tackling him in a bear hug.

"Kraglin!"

"Peter...get off me. You're heavy!"

"No!" Peter put his adoptive brother in a headlock.

"Peter!"

The Terran elbowed him, "That's for lettin' Yondu beat me up!" He elbowed again, "That's for beatin' me up!" He drove his elbow into the older man's side a third time.

"What was that one for!?" Kraglin wheezed as he tried to regain the air that was just jabbed out of his lungs.

"That was because I felt like it!"

"Do you feel like getting off me now?"

"...yeah." He got up, then leaped at his next victim. "Gamora!"

He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, but she held her ground, not falling over. 

"I missed you," he mumbled, hugging her tighter.

"Get off of me!" She pried Peter's arms off of her. He pouted.

"I jus' want a hug..."

"I do not hug people," Gamora stated.

Peter did not hear her; he was already rushing into the Milano after remembering that his prized walkman was inside. Like a kid distracted by something shiny. Kraglin followed after him.

"Peter..."

He found his younger brother plucking the tape from the stereo and sliding it in to the walkman.

"Yeah, bro?" He looked up from his task.

"This belongs to you," Kraglin pulled the orb from his pocket. "The others don't know I have it. Cap'n doesn't know I got it either. Snatched it from him when he wasn't lookin'"

Peter's grin faltered. "What am I supposed to do with it?" He took with with a shaky hand and pocketed it. "It's dangerous. And as much as I love Ronan...I ain't giving it to him."

"What's in it?"

"Something called an infinity stone--"

"Wait, those are real?!"

Peter nodded.

"So Yondu wasn't lyin' when he said they existed?"

Peter shook his head. "Realer than real...almost got killed by it once. I don't want it, but Yondu'll sell it to whoever offers him enough money...that's dangerous, too."

It was Kraglin's turn to nod now. "What you should do...go to Xandar and take it to the Nova Corp--"

"They don't like me!"

"Can't be that bad."

"I have met face to face with Nova Prime more than any other person in this Galaxy! I've been arrested so many times! Not to mention, I escaped from their heavily guarded prison! They'll kill me as soon as I step foot on the planet!"

"Peter, that thing is dangerous--"

The pair of them fell silent when they heard a commotion outside.

Peter was the first to sprint out of the Milano, hoping no one was killing each other out there.

He shouldn't get his hopes up.

He hit the brakes, nearly falling over as he witnessed what was happening. Ronan was there, clad in full armor, hammer raised. Gamora stood directly in front of him. Back and forth, the pair hurled insults at each other.

"Ronan, stop!" Peter forced his feet to move.

"Dishonorable!" Gamora growled.

"Traitor!" Ronan hissed, pulling his hammer back.

"No!" Peter leaped forward, landing directly in front of Gamora as Ronan swung his weapon.

The regret was clear on Ronan's face.

A sickening crack filled the room as the hammer made contact with Peter's torso.

 

Peter would've screamed if he could, but the impact stole every last ounce of his breath. The pain was indescribable, shooting from the bottom of his ribcage all the way to the tips of his fingers. Every nerve end seemed as if it were on fire, and a disgusting sound filled his ears.

'Bone,' he thought.

The sound of his bones shattering.

It felt like he had a gaping hole in his stomach, and he doesn't know how he manages to, but he finds himself wondering exactly what Ronan's hammer was made of. He knew it could kill someone without even making contact with their body. Imagine what it could do if it actually hit someone.

Had it killed him?

The possibility seemed likely. 

His vision was blurred, and he could barley make out the sound of Ronan dropping the hammer. He's on the floor, he can make that part out.

Someone kneeled beside him, but he was unable to detect who it was. He couldn't see too well. 

He was quickly rolled over on to his side. The movement made him gag, sending a wave of dark blood pouring out of his mouth. 

He really felt like he was dying. Every movement made blood seep out of his mouth and nose, he couldn't breathe, everything hurt.

'I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying.'

The words would not leave his mind.

It was all he could think as he succumbed to the darkness that overtook him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story gets worse from here. Be aware.
> 
> In the beginning, I was gonna write some dirty stuff but then I changed my mind halfway through typing and decided to go somewhat fluffy. Ronan and Peter have a very April&Andy relationship sometimes...
> 
> Also, Peter is totally in charge in the bedroom.
> 
> I didn't like having Peter be useless and seem weak, so I added an extra bit in there to show that he actually does have some level of skill (mostly acrobatics and gymnast-type things. Very parkour, too...) and that pretty much explains why he always jumping around and running. At least, I hope it does?
> 
> I'm sorry. I had to put an end to the fluff because it was too sweet and tbh I just love beating the shit out of peter in this story. I'm evil.
> 
> [[ OH, I found a few other writers on tumblr. Turns out they're also artists, too! (There is a lot of smut, also 0.0) I pretty much stalked all of their blogs ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I wish I was half as good as they were at art. When I get bored, I do sketch a few scenes from this a story, but they never make it online because they're ugly...
> 
> Anyways, I need to stop babbling. Y'all don't even care. ]]
> 
> (Im still a slut for comments, incase you're wondering...)


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao wtfffffff why do y'all even continue to read this story it's such trash and it has so many mistakes in it and tbh i just wanted it to have a dog in it.
> 
> But Cosmo will play an important-ish roll one day. Just not today.

Chapter 10

Peter.

Wake up.

Open your eyes.

Don't let yourself die out.

You are not in pain. You are alive and well. You are ready to come back to those who await you.

You will not die. Do not let your heart stop beating. 

I...I haven't even got to meet you yet...

 

Peter's eyes shot open and he tried to gasp for breath. A tube was shoved down his throat and his chest burned from the inside out. And that voice! The voice in his head--it lied!

Everything hurt!

He WAS in pain 

"Calm yourself down, boy! You're about to ruin a week of work and I won't stress for them to fix ya if ya do!"

There's was hand in his hair, he glanced up until he was looking into the red eyes of Yondu. What was he doing here? (He also noted the bruise on the side of his face. Had the man fought his way in here?)

"Damn kid," the guy grumbled.

Peter scanned the room, noting that everyone was there except for Ronan.

Yondu's hand was brushing through his hair.

 

"We shoulda just delivered 'im like we were supposed to to," Kraglin mumbled. "Maybe he wouldn't be laying here half dead--"

"He ain't dyin!" Yondu snapped. "He's too dumb to die anyway. He came back, he'll do it again!"

Peter's eyes flicked back and forth between the two. Delivered him? To who!? He was so confused, honestly.

Smart move, on Kraglin's part; Peter can't ask questions with the tube in his throat. Instead, he makes a garbled sound.

"Pete," Rocket hopped on to the bed and crawled over, being careful not to touch Peter. "Ya been asleep for a long time." He's drawing away the awkward tension between Yondu and Kraglin.

Peter glanced down at the Raccoon, reaching out a hand. He wasn't sure what he was going accomplish by doing so; Rocket didn't like to be petted.

But Peter couldn't resist the urge. Although angry and snappy, Rocket was cute. Raccoons were cute. It was human nature to pet cute things.

Luckily, his hand rested on Rocket's head without the raccoon chomping it off. Rocket's fur was softer than expected.

"It is good to have you back," Gamora said, shoving Yondu out of the way to stand beside Peter. 

He turned his head, biting down on the tube in pain as his neck flared with a stinging heat.

"I know you cannot talk right now, but please figure out a way to let us know how you're feeling."

The Terran though for a moment...then he lifted his hand and jammed his middle finger up. He'd honestly felt like he's been fucked over badly. Everything hurt, he wanted to cry for years, and he was honestly scared.

She smiled. It was close enough.

He, though, frowned and let out a gurgled whine. His chest hurt, he couldn't speak, and the stupid tube made his throat uncomfortable.

"Go back to sleep, Quill," Rocket said, dropping to all fours on the bed. "It, Uh...makes it less painful."

He blinked his large green eyes a few times at the sudden uneasiness in the room.

Was there something else they weren't telling him?

"Or, ya should stay awake...I don't know about sleeping," Kraglin suggested.

Gamora, Drax, Groot, and even Cosmo quickly nod in agreement. The dog hadn't said anything since they've been there, but there is concern in his large brown eyes.

Yondu groaned. "I was hopin I could let his friends or even his so called brother tell him, but I guess none of ya are gonna grow a pair and do it." The red eyed man sighd. "Boy...you died."

Peter can't ask what Yondu means, but the sound he makes is enough.

"Your heart stopped beating. Few days ago, it was...quite a few hours til it started again. I don't know how you survived, but...you did. We were pretty sure you were gone...Ya really are to dumb to die, boy..." He shook his head. "Ronan left then. He ain't been back since..."

Rocket stirred under the hand that was placed atop his head. "He doesn't know Pete's not dead..."

 

-—-•-—-•-—-

"Thanos! The orb is in my possession, as I had promised."

"Bring it to me, boy." The Titan growled.

"Yes, that was our agreement, was it not? I bring you the orb, in turn, you will demolish Xandar and it's inhabitants," sneered Ronan. "But...I have confirmed my assumptions. This orb contains an Infinity Stone. I do not need you to get the job done. This orb has cost me something. Something...important. To give it to you would be...foolish."

"Boy!" Thanos shouted. "I advise you to reconsider your current course--"

Ronan chuckled deeply, despite the guilt that spilled out of his cold, black heart. He'd pulled Peter into this mess and... And now his Terran was dead. He was doing this for Peter, he reminded himself. Technically, it was Thanos who killed him. Thanos was the one who requested that the orb be brought to him by Ronan, causing the Accuser to strive to acquire it and thrusting Gamora and Nebula under the command of Ronan. And then Gamora betrayed them; She tried to take the orb (which Thanos had wanted in the first place). And Gamora, daughter of Thanos, was able to befriend Peter. His Peter. The one that foolishly risked himself to save the traitor.

"Master!" Korath said, eyes wide at the way Ronan faced the titan. "Do not taunt him!"

Ronan glared.

"Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe!"

"No. Not anymore!" Ronan shook his head and gripping the ends of the orb and twisting it, forcing it open.

"Master, don't--"

"Shut up!" Ronan snapped, reaching down and closing his fist around the glowing stone. Power and energy coursed through every nerve in his body, inside every artery and vein, even working its way into his bones.

Again, his laughter filled the room as he motioned for Korath to bring his mighty weapon forward...the same weapon that killed Peter...

The Kree shoved the thought out of his mind as soon as it entered, and took hold of his hammer, smashing the stone into the center. The vibrations under his palm were almost painful, the stone fusing with the weapon until it, the hammer, and Ronan were bonded together by it's power. Korath took a few steps back and Nebula, who had been watching, ducked behind a nearby pillar.

"You call me boy!" Ronan glared at the projection of the angry giant. His violet eyes shone bright, literally glowing, and his voice instantly sounded deeper, angrier, more menacing. "You mock me, my looks, my morals! You think you are powerful! I will show you true power! I shall unfurl several thousands of years of Kree justice upon Xandar, and burn it to it's core! It will no longer be of existence! And then, Thanos, I'm coming for you! You could not even dream of what's going to happen to you!"

He cut the communication, but he didn't miss the small flicker of fear in the mad titan's eyes. The giant would suffer, for sure. Ronan would not rest until Thanos was dead.

"After you destroy Xandar, you are going to kill my father?" Nebula asked, stepping out from behind her hiding spot.

"You dare to oppose me!?" Ronan snarled at her.

She shook her head and stepped closer. "If you kill Thanos, I will help you destroy a thousand planets!"

He shoved her away roughly.

"I do not need your help. You are useless to me! I should kill you right where you lay!"

Without another word, he strode off.

He had someone he needed to avenge.

 

He remembered clearly--maybe because it was a few days ago, but...that didn't make the pain in his heart any less.

He'd sat upright, watching over Peter. Despite being extremely pale and wheezing with every struggled breath, the Terran looked somewhat peaceful his eyes were closed, muscles relaxed instead of tensed like they usually were, his hair wasn't sticking up in all directions from his fingers constantly carding through them.

He couldn't do anything but watch as Peter slept on unconsciously. He still didn't agree with the others bringing Peter planet-side when there was a medbay both on the Elector and on the Dark Aster...But he said nothing, instead opting to sit alone with Peter. Sit and wait for his Terran to wake up.

Though, it was probably impossible.

How Peter hadn't died instantly was beyond the intense knowledge of the Kree. He'd knocked Peter's heart and left lung out of place! That was supposed to be instant death, wasn't it!? Peter's skeleton should've been shattered beyond repair.

His memories blurred at the bits he didn't want to remember.

But he can't not remember the way Peter's breathing grew heavier, jerking his chest and upper body each time he exhaled.  
The choked noise Peter made in the back of his throat.

The Kree had looked around frantically, searching for anyone, who could tell him what exactly was happening, but there was absolutely no one. [In a sense, he was glad for that.]

The shrill whine of the heart monitor as the neon line bounced up and down rapidly before flattening out filled the air. And then silence. For a long time.

On the inside, Ronan had panicked immensely.

On the outside, though, he sat, staring on.

He knew that time after death seemed to slow down, but considering the people he killed were seen as enemies, he'd never experienced the feeling himself.

His wife had died, yes, but he didn't exactly see it happen with his own eyes. He received the news that she was actually dead long after it happened.

He wasn't sure how long he had sat, staring into nothing-ness before he finally slumped down, heart feeling empty yet heavy at the same time.

Gently, he'd reached a hand out and placed it on Peter's chest, knowing that would no longer hurt the Terran. He knew, if he actually could, he should've cried.

His hand carded through the strawberry blond curls, causing them to stick up in all directions and stretch out.

He tried talking to Peter, also, knowing the Terran wouldn't hear him.

"Peter…" he spoke in a whisper, "My sweet prince of Terra…"

It's eerie, the way Peter was unmoving under the hands that caress his face and comb through his hair.

"I will…I-I have…I'll always love you."

Ronan had never loved anyone so much.

He can't say much, no one would even be around to hear it but himself.

"I will fix this..."

Peter was gone, though. He was making promise to something that wasn't even there.

 

He didn't care that he was pouring out sentiment.

If only he had done it sooner...

Slowly, he reached to take Peter's hand.

While reaching down, his knuckles brushed against something hard in the pocket of the jacket that was draped over Peter.

In curiosity, the retrieved the object.

The orb.

Suddenly, rage overcame the warrior.

He needed someone other than himself to blame for this. He needed something to do. Something to channel his building rage. Someone to kill without affecting his heart.

 

He pocketed the orb, giving Peter one last glance (noting how his Terran looked at peace once more), then stormed out of the room.

To his dismay, he'd ran into the others as he was leaving. They'd all stopped and stared at him.

He had glared back, only two words escaping through his dark teeth. Words that caused the others to take off in a full sprint toward the room housing Peter.

“He's dead.”

They had all doubted it.

But then again...why would Ronan leave Peter's side after sitting beside him for days straight without even moving an inch?

And Peter...

He was probably dancing in the stars with his mom already.

Unluckily, Ronan didn't stick around long enough. He had a planet to destroy, and a titan to tear into pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The very first section of the chapter is Peter's real daddy talking to him. I ain't gonna say who it is tho. It's not gonna be J'son. I don't like J'son. He's a huge dick hahHa. It's not Adam, either.
> 
> Halfway through writing this, Inrealized it was similar to another story I read this morning where Peter kinda died and someone talked him back to reality. That was unintentional.
> 
>  
> 
> About Peter's dad though; I don't know how many of you know about comic characters and such, but I jacked the idea from a fan-theory I saw online a few weeks ago. 
> 
> You guys don't get to know who Peter's dad is until I decide if i WANNA write a sequel or not. If I do, you'll learn in the sequel. If not, I'll just put it in the end of the story.
> 
> I can let you guess, though;  
> (I'm not sure if the character actually has mind powers, but whatever.) He persuaded Peter in to beliving that he wasn't in pain.  
> He persuaded him to just open his eyes and wake up.
> 
> That's as much of a hint I can give and hope someone catches on.
> 
> Im still a slut for those comments though...so where are they ???  
> Tbh I don't even care if it's a negative comment telling me that I suck ass or smth. I just want comments.


	11. Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really short because I WANT this piece to be out there but I don't feel like writing out an entire, long chapter.
> 
> (Besides, I'm working on a Staraccuser One-Shot and it's really cute and all of you seem to love affectionate Ronan so there's tons of affectionate Ronan in it. Also, if you loved chris pratt in Jurassic World then you're gonna love the one/shot. Alright I'm gonna stop rambling about this.)
> 
> Please don't hate me for this trash

"What did you mean by 'deliver' me?" Peter demanded. It was the first thing he had said since he was able to talk, and it was the only thing he had continued to say. He refused to answer any questions, or say anything else.

"What did you mean by 'deliver' me?" He asked again, and edge of anger in his voice.

Getting fed up with hearing the question multiple times, Yondu shoved Kraglin forward, "Since this idiot opened his big trap, why don't he go ahead and tell ya?!"

Kraglin rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Well, uh...well...when you were a little kid, still back on Terra, we sorta got a job. This...wealthy guy...he forced us to kidnap ya...said he wanted us to bring ya to him alive."

Yondu nodded when Peter looked over at him.

"Forced you to?" Peter raised and eyebrow. "There was never anyone else on the ship...I lived there for twenty years..."

Yondu rolled his eyes, "Of course. He didn't hold us at gunpoint or anything. The bastard had mind powers...used 'em against me..."

Yondu had remembered the day well. The man had approached the Ravagers, knowing that the band of space pirates would to almost anything for money.

He had walked up, looking suspicious, hood pulled down over his eyes;

"Yondu Udonta."

The captain had turned around the face the large hooded man.

"You know who I am, yes?"

Yondu had only stared...until the man reached up and pulled the hood back, letting it rest against his back and shoulders. Yondu nodded. Anyone would know who this guy was. His family was practically feared.

"What do you want?" The Captain spat, glaring at the man.

"I have...a job offer for your crew..."

Yondu had refused, of course, after finding out he'd have to travel to piece-of-shit Terra. But the man had changed his mind...tapped into the locked brain of the lead Ravager and persuaded him to change his mind. Of course, to play it off as if nothing unordinary had happened, the man asked again, if Yondu would be willing to go to Terra. Then he practically altered Yondu's decision. Yondu had felt it.

He felt something in the back of his mind. Something that was not himself. And he knew right then and there that the bastard had some kind of unnatural power and was actually using it on him. A sense of fog clouded his brain for a moment. But before he could regain control of his mind, the words "Yeah, alright. We'll do it" had already left his lips. And then the sensation of someone else working his brain was suddenly gone.

His crew wouldn't let him change his mind, either. Especially not after learning that they'd gain billions of units for completing the job. And he wasn't gonna show weakness by letting his crew know that someone actually had the ability to hack into his brain...

"Of course, we were already late...we shoulda picked ya up 'bout two weeks earlier, but the crew had other plans." Yondu shrugged.

Peter stared at him. For a long time.

"Fuckin--say something, Pete." Rocket nudged him from his established spot beside Peter (he'd hardly even moved from there for the last few weeks.) After several minuets, the silence became eerie.

"You..." Peter's voice cracked, "You could've saved her...my mom, we could have saved her! Why did you take so long to get me!? You said yourself that Terrans were weak and that there was probably some kind of technology in space that could fix anything wrong with anyone--we could have fixed her, Yondu!"

"...She's dead, Quill. Let it go."

"Let it go!?" Peter screeched. "She died! She was my best friend! Do you know how fucked up that is, dude!?"

"Anyways," Yondu said, cutting Peter's rant short. He'd heard it a billion an done times anyways. "A few days after snatching ya up, I decided to just keep you. And teach that bastard a lesson. No one fucks with Ravagers."

"What did he even want me for!?"

Yondu facepalmed, as if he were already irritated with Peter. Hadn't the idiot put two and two together already!? "He was your dad, fucking idiot! Why the hell else would anyone want ya!?"

"M...my dad?!" Peter's eyes are a vibrant green, almost glowing as looks up.It kind of freaks Yondu out, and he takes a step back, preparing for a full on bitchfit from Peter.

Before the Terran could say anything, the doctor (who should've been a really long time ago) stepped into the room, clipboard clutched in his thin hands and blond hair ruffled as if he's discovered something amazing.

"Sir!" He turned to Yondu. "We have discovered the reason for Mr. Quill's remarkably quick recovery! This man is not Terran like we thought!"

Yondu rolled his eyes, "I picked him up right off of Terra--"

"He is a Titan!" The doctor cut him off, ecstatically. "There is only three left known in existence! And to think there was a fourth laying here all along!" The young man left the room, happily chattering to himself. Of course, Yondu had already known this. Yondu, apparently, knew everything.

"Wait, what!?" Peter sat up, ignoring the increasing pain in his chest. "A Titan!?" There was only one titan he knew of. "My dad's a Titan!?"

"And an asshole." Yondu adds, rolling his eyes.

Peter had to take a moment to collect himself, mind still spinning. His dad really was out there, and he had looked for him! But the lazy bastard couldn't even do the job himself...  
And how the hell did his mother get herself affiliated with a Titan!? One who was, according to Yondu, an asshole! Well... Yondu thought everyone was an asshole, but this guy was enough of a jerk that Yondu decided to keep Peter instead of give him to the guy. There was only one Titan that Peter knew of that was capable of that level of assholery.

"Yondu, is...is Thanos my father?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaa plot twist AND cliffhanger-ish type thing.
> 
> The next chapter is also very plot-twisting.
> 
> •••  
> I've scrolled through the Staraccuser tag on tumblr so many times recently...there's so much porn tho XD
> 
> One day, my art for this story will be up there...just not today, because I suck at art today!
> 
> Also, im thinking of making a Backstory where Yondu was actually nice to Peter until Peter got older (old enough to take a beating pretty much) and that's why Peter refers to him as "my dad" ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> Like, as a kid Peter was really well taken care of and practically spoiled by Yondu and he was the son Yondu never wanted, but he just kept him around... And eventually Yondu made him a Crew member and treated him more like a worker and less like a son. And then they got to where they are now (trying not to execute each other every time they're in the same room.). But im already writing so much stuff.   
> (I also started planing a new Staraccuser fic, to be written some time in the future.)
> 
> Now I gotta go finish writing my other stuff and commenting on things :)
> 
> ALL MISTAKES ARE MINE


	12. 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yondu is a huge dickface in this chapter.
> 
> I also changed up some characters personalities and stuff for this story ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> I think I might have one more chapter of this fic. Then I'll probably start on the sequel.
> 
> And finish my other stories and stuff. This story might not end the way everyone thought it would, but oh wel. Happy endings dONT EXIST OOPS
> 
> at least not for Peter Quill
> 
> Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine.  
> (This whole thing is a mistake lmaoooo)

Yondu had never laughed so hard in his life.

Okay...he probably had, but he was laughing too hard at the moment to remember any other time that he'd laughed.

"Boy, you think--" he cut himself off with another laugh. After a moment (and an annoyed look from everyone in the room. Even Groot), he pulled himself together and wiped a tear from his eye. "You actually thought Thanos was your father?! There ain't no way in all of the universe that I'd steal a young'in from Thanos!"

"But you said--"

"He's an asshole, yeah. A real jackass. All of 'em are like that, Titans. Bastards, thinkin their entitled to the highest level of hierarchy that exists. Thinkin' it's okay to fuck with people's minds and overpower each other. I hate Titans." The man grumbled, shooting a glare at Gamora. "Especially big, ugly, purple ones. Who lazily sit on their throne all day, too lazy to do their own work. Sendin' people out there to destroy planets and kill."

"Yondu cut it out." Peter said. "It's not her fault."

"Boy, there ain't no way I woulda ever spoke a single word to Thanos. Did they pump ya full of too much stuff, son?"

"If Thanos is not Quill's father, then who is?" Drax asked, actually speaking up.

"Yeah, now that you're done laughing it up, spit it out!" Peter said, crossing his arms. A pain filtered across his chest at the movements, but it was nowhere near as bad as the pain he experienced when he first woke up.

Whatever he was must've been really advanced. A Titan, he reminded himself...I'm...a Titan? A part of him wanted to kind of just rub it in EVERYONE's face. He wasn't exactly a useless Terran like they said he was. He still has questions, though. Like; Why didn't his other half shine through and heal him miraculously in the past? He'd gotten beaten, bruised, and most definitely broken through his life. It always took him long to heal. He hated it. (Especially the one time Yondu had to purposely break his leg. It took him a very long time to heal. But that's a story for another time.)

"First off, boy, if I told you who he was, you'd still be as clueless as the day I picked ya up off'a Terra. Second, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life."

"I don't think anyone could be more negative than you--"

"THIRD; He ain't the kinda guy you'd wanna be around. He's a jackass, and idiot, and you woulda been dead in a week because he would've been to busy shackin' up anything with long hair and a heartbeat every other day to remember that you were there. That information is for me to know, and for you to...not know," Yondu finished, glaring down at Peter.

"Can I at least have a name?"

Rocket quirked a furry brow at Peter. "That would be the same thing as telling you who it is..."

"Shut up," Peter nudged the raccoon with his leg. He turned his attention back to Yondu. "He obviously wanted me! He was trying to reach out to me! He sent someone for me! He needed me"

"He wan'ed ya so he could mind control ya into a little soldier," Yondu replies.

"How would you know that!? I never even got the chance to meet him!" In the back of him mind, something tells him that Yondu might be right. Yondu is right about most things.

"I told ya," he reached out and flicked Peter's nose. "Ya ain't wanna meet him!"

"I actually--"

"Eros." Gamora's voice was barely audible over the bickering between Yondu and Peter. She was studying Peter's features with her glossy, amber eyes.

"What?" Peter asked, turning towards her.

"Your father--his name is Eros," she said.

"Now, girl, don't go telling lies--" Yondu started, but she cut him off.

"I do not tell lies." She snapped, glaring at him.

"That right there is a huge load of bullshit, miss 'im an undercover assassin'--" Rocket's voice was muffled when Peter shoved the blanket of the hospital bed in the Raccoon's face.

"Shut up, dude. What the fuck is an Eros?"

"Nobody important," Yondu growled.

Gamora had met Eros twice. Once when she was little, and once when she was already grown. When she was a child, Thanos had sent her out on her first mission. Eros had ruined it for her. First, he distracted her, then he insisted that he try to help her find her parents, trying overly hard to be nice to her. She was confused and returned home, almost in tears until Thanos reminded her that she was not allowed to cry.

The second time they met, he (obviously) didn't remember her. He'd tried to hit on her as soon as they made eye contact. And the asshole tried to woo her into crawling into bed with him. Yondu was correct -- Eros was not the kind of asshole you wanted to meet. How he became known as a "noble" man is far beyond her.

"Eros is one of the three--I mean...four remaining Titans." She started. She spared a glance at Yondu; He looked annoyed, but he didn't look like he was gonna stop her from talking like he previously had. "He has persuasive abilities...he is able to work his way into the mind of others and get them to agree to what he wishes them to do. But his powers also extend father than that. He can communicate with you, through a link."

With a gentleness practically unknown to the green-skinned assassin, she reached out and smoothed Peter's wild hair back. Then she used both of her hands to guide the soft strands into to two peaks. "Smile," she commanded, and Peter complied. It was Gamora, Peter would almost always comply. He forced the ends of his mouth upward and pulled his lips back, revealing his almost perfect, white teeth. "He looks just like him."

Yondu snorted. She turned his head to face the Ravager, as if to prove her point.

"I can see it in him. But Peter is...younger, smaller...more intelligent in social matters." She noted.

"So, he has, like, mind powers?" Peter asked, dropping his smile and ruffling his hair back up into a messy mane.

"...Yes. He has...mind powers. You, on the other hand, do not appear to possess any kind of power regarding that. On a different scale, you seem to have acquired a healing factor, and possibly slowed aging."

"Oh, slow aging, for sure. I've been looking this way since I was 23. I tried growing a beard out and everything!" Peter complained. "It didn't really make me look older. Just made me look like a different person, kinda. You should see me without a mustache, Gamora! I look like a 15 year old."

"Ya still got a dumb baby face," Yondu gruntled in agreement. "Still got them big green eyes and pouty, pudgy face that ya had when we picked ya up."

"Anyways. This Eros guy--my real dad. Do you know him?" Peter asked Gamora.

"I have met him. Eros is the youngest son of A'lars; The younger brother and nemesis of Thanos."

A lot of things run through Peter's mind, seriously, a LOT. But the only thing he can manage to blurt out is.

"We're cousins!?" And then he furiously proceeded to wipe at his lips in disgust. "Eugh! Oh God, I thought I was falling a little bit in love with you! I kissed you, too!"

Gamora actually blushed.

(It had happened by accident once. Peter, being the normal childish goof that he was, had been following closely behind her and annoying every last ounce of life in her body. When she had turned around to reprimand him for being obnoxious and rowdy, he bumped right in to her and accidentally crashed their lips together. He apologized, of course, but quickly admitted that he liked it and that it should happen again. On purpose. He hadn't betrayed Ronan's love, though. The Kree laughed the situation off, already knowing that Peter had probably kissed anything with a heartbeat anyways. The man was overly-loving.)

"Well, ya little brat. Ya finally learned what ya wanted. Ya still owe me your whole damn life, but I ain't so low as to kill ya when you're laying in a hospital bed. I will see ya again, though," Yondu grunted. He seemed more annoyed than angry. "Just know that next time we cross paths, you're gonna have this arrow goin' through that empty head of yours, boy!"

"Okay..." Peter sighed. "Bye."

Yondu stalked out of the room with Kraglin following.

"Yondu!" Gamora shouted. With the help of her enhancements, she made one smooth leap over the bed and trailed after the pair.

Peter stared after her, eyes wide.

 

 

"Yondu," Gamora said again. She was met with a high pitched whistle and a Yaka arrow inches from her face.

"Girl, if you know what's best for ya, you should keep your fuckin' mouth shut. Ya just undid and ruined over twenty years of my hard work, and I don't appreciate that. D'ya know how hard it is to keep a secret for 20 years?" He kept his back turned to her. Kraglin leaned against the wall and kept his eye on her. He didn't trust her, Daughter of Thanos. "Quill was the most annoying little piece'a shit I'd even encountered. Small, loud, always crying 'bout something or another. A huge scaredy-cat, too." The captain recalled many of the several time's he'd had to drag himself away from something important to reprimand the crew for scaring the boy to the point of tears just for laughs. "But no matter how small, annoying, or dumb someone may be, ain't nobody deserve to be under the care of a neglectful bastard."

"Peter told me that you once forgot him on Xandar for two weeks."

"I went back for him, didn't I? And he was able to survive with the skills we taught him. 'Sides, Eros is a dick."

"And you are not?"

"No."

"You and your friends were going to kill him on Knowhere."

"Like Thanos wouldn't kill your for stealing from him," the man sneered back, finally turning around to face Gamora. "C'mon, girl. You and I both know you're as good as a piece of raw mean once Thanos catches up with ya. Good luck trying to get away from that."

She ignored the man's jabs at her. "How are you any different than Eros?"

"Hoo, there is a long list of reasons. We'd be here all day long. But--First off, I wouldn't'a send someone else to pick up my own son off'a some piece of shit planet, I'd do it myself. And IF I had sent someone, I'd at least make sure they're doin' they're fuckin' job. 24 years, never heard a word from him. Second, I didn't waste my life away chasing after brutes. And third, I don't fuck around with people's minds." He could've gone on, but really, he didn't want to.

She studied him, taking in the sight of the bruise on the side of the man's face. "You met with him, didn't you?"

Yondu smirked. Finally, someone took it into account. "Tracked 'im down. Demanded that he use his stupid mind powers to tap into Pete's mind and finally tell the boy he needs the wake the hell up."

"And?"

"He punched me in the face. Then complied."

"You know," Kraglin started, peeling himself off the wall and stepping forward. Gamora looked at him. "Soon as Peter's able to, he's gonna go lookin' for 'im."

"Nah," Yondu shook his head. "First, he's goin after that big blue lug he calls his boyfriend. He's gonna find him, try to talk him outta whatever the freak's doin, and THEN he's goin after Eros. Might even try to befriend him, the idiot."

"What happens then, Cap?" Kraglin asked, a hint of concern. From what he'd heard about Eros in the past, the Titan wouldn't be above hurting Peter for some stupid "moral" reason. Many believed Eros to be a good guy, fighting against his brother's evil forces. After all this time, why hadn't he actually put a stop to his brother's antics? And if he could tap into Peter's mind, why didn't he do it 20+ years ago? That was kind of shady.

"You already know what happens to people who befriend Thanos' enemies, Krag."

"Why would you let that happen?" Gamora asked.

"I wouldn't. But I can't exactly stop that from happenin'. Quill makes his own choices, dies on his own time. He ain't a kid anymore. It's none of my business."

"Well..." Gamora didn't know what else to say. "You could at least help us...? Finding and stopping Ronan, I mean--"

"Ronan?" Yondu scoffed. "The Accuser? The guy who's hellbent on destroying an entire planet just because he doesn't like the people there? You know, I don't exactly know how the hell Quill even got himself tangled up with a guy like that, but he ain't the type of guy you stop." The Centuarian wasn't really fond of the idea of Ronan destroying Xandar, either, but he wasn't the kind of guy to go out of his was and play hero and put a stop to it. That's the kind of shit over achievers did.

"Peter would want your help."

Of course Peter would try to put a stop to it. Peter would try to do the right thing; Because, even though he was partially raised by a band of thieves who were really horrible people with equally horrible morals, he still has that set of good morals in the back of his mind. The one's his mother supposedly taught him. The theory that doing the right thing was always the best choice, even if it wasn't the most popular decision. That belief that if he was part of the mess, he's GOTTA be one of the people who cleans it up afterwards.

Peter was so...extra.

"You care about Peter, don't you?" She tries against.

"No. I can't wait til he dies," the Centuarian huffed. What's in it for me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is tagged as M/F because Peter probably kinda has a friend crush on Gamora ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Eros is a dick and Yondu has a really high self esteem. Gamora is really smart. Ronan will be in the next chapter. Sorry for excluding him so much.
> 
> I have a lot of one shots and mini stories I wanna write, too, so watch out for those.
> 
> And please pleasure me with comments telling me what I could do better or what you liked, OR wha you would like to see in the possible sequel???  
> (There will probably be a wedding of some sorts, and it won't focus solely on Peter's life.)


	13. 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is fiction and I have the ability to add or change people's powers, I have done so.
> 
> All mistakes ar emine. Unbeta'd.  
> This whole story is a mistake.
> 
> No Ronan in this chapter, sadly. He will be in next chapter. I think that might be the end chapter, though.

"You did not bring me here to track," Cosmo's tail twitched in irritation.

"Well...no. I, uh..."

"You bring Cosmo here to read his mind," the dog pointed his snout in the direction of where Peter was curled up, asleep, in the co-pilot's seat with Yondu's trench coat draped over him.

"Well," Kraglin followed the dog's movements, watching as his "brother" mumbled in his sleep. It was beyond the Xandarian's brain, the way Peter could sleep that way. He was curled up in the seat, head resting against an armrest, neck bent at an uncomfortable angle, and knees pulled up to his chest. The chair wasn't even big enough for him to do that, yet he managed. "Yeah, sorta. How did you know?"

"Cosmo be readink your minds. All of you."

"It's just that...I want to know what the hell's going through his mind. He's...not all there. He's a bit crazy!"

"All of you are!" Cosmo replied, standing up. "You are all crazy!"

The dog turned himself around to face the others. Then pointed his snout in Gamora's direction, "This one believes that help from others is pointless. She does not think that anythink she does has success if she receives help. Help is one think you cannot live without, Gamora!"

Gamora looked at the animal with a shocked expression. Cosmo payed her no mind, turning himself to face Drax.

"This one has revenge plotted in his mind and will not let go of the fact that gettink revenge will not complete his life or be making him feel better!"

"My life was completed! I had a wife and daughter, Ronan killed them and ruined my life!"

But Cosmo was not listening.

"And Rocket," the dog started. "He is always angry!"

The raccoon growled.

"He acts like he does not care, he talks like he hates everythink. But deep inside of him, he is just scared to appreciate people. He does not want anythink to happen to anyone after he gets close to them. He likes your company, all of you. He just will never say so."

Yondu snorted from the pilot's seat.

"You are not problem less, either, Yondu Udonta. You are fueled by anger and sorrow. You are the way you are because you could not find your place in high society. You could not be makink a name out of yourself as a good person, so you made one as a bad person. You realized that it was easier to hurt people than to save them. You gave up on helpink people for good, and you will not do so without gettink anythink in return. You do not want to be acknowledged as a good guy, so you surround yourself with bad ones."

"There's a reason for that--"

 

"And you, Kraglin. You seek constant approval from others. You would be willink to overwork yourself and help everyone, even when they don't ask for it. You strive to be ahead of everyone else, for fear of beink left behind if you don't. You all have problems; Cosmo read your minds. The only stable one is Groot, because Groot knows."

"Knows what?" Rocket asked, practically growling at the dog, who growled in return.

"Things." Lastly, the animal faced Peter, who lay deep in his sleep, occasionally mumbling or making incoherent sounds.

"Peter is…"

"What?" Kraglin asked, looking over to the man in the co-pilot's seat.

"Dreamink."

-—-•-—-•-—-

"What's happening to those people! Can't you help them!? Can't we do anything!?" Peter's hands smash against what appears to be an invisible wall, keeping him from moving and further. "They're dying! Why are we just standing here watching!?" Peter turns to look at his...acquaintance over his shoulder. The man only blinks at him. Peter scowls. "Why are you just standing there!?"

"Just watch," the man replies, brushing his hands through his spiked hair as if nothing serious were happening, though there was a flash of sadness in his eyes.

"Is that Thanos!? He's killing everybody! Eros, go down there and stop him!"

Ignoring Peter, Eros turns to the third member of their party, "Adam, take us to Terra, year 1976...by their calendar."

Peter's confused for a moment when the ground underneath his feet turns from the hard rock of an unknown planet's hill top to the soft grass of Earth. He knows this place. The large open area, the perfect view of mountains in the distance, and... "Mom!"

She looks younger and more beautiful than he's ever seen her look in his life. He remembers her, of course, but he mainly remembered her as being sick. He's never seen her like this before.

"Mom?"

She pays Peter no mind, instead turning around and opening her arms wide just in time for a man dressed in a black jacket and jeans to run up and hug her.

"Who is..." Peter squints his eyes to attempt to catch a glimpse of the man's face, but the man is too busy hugging Meredith tightly and spinning her around happily. When he finally puts her down, Peter gets a good look. "That's...that's you," He turns around to look at Eros. "It's the past. We're looking at the past...your past."

"No," Eros corrects. "Yours."

Peter turns back around to se his parents embracing each other.

They're in love; He can practically sense it radiating off of the pair.

And then the scene changes. His mother is standing outside, sadly speaking to his father. One hand is rested on her stomach.

"I must go, my people need me," past-Eros says. "I should have left a while ago. It is beyond my time, being here..."

"I need you--we need you, can't you stay?" Meredith asks, taking his hands.

"I cannot..."

"But...you'll come back for the two of us, won't you?" Meredith asks, blinking back her tears.

"Of course I will. But you and our child are safer here. I will come back for you when the war is over."

 

"If you loved her so much, why did you leave her!? Why didn't you come back and save her!?" Peter asks, turning around to face real-time Eros.

"I was busy trying to end the war that me people were fighting against Thanos!"

"The entire time!?"

"No! The war was at it's end when I arrived, but I can assure you I had no knowledge of your mother's sickness! I did not know--"

"You mean you didn't care!" Peter can feel anger churning inside of him now. "You just said so yourself, the war ended, you could have come back for us! Why the hell DIDNT you!?"

"I was busy, but I did care! And I loved her, your mother!"

"Obviously not enough!" Peter turns away from Eros, deciding then and there that he doesn't like the man. He'd honestly prefer Yondu as a father over some man who left him and his mother in the dust because he was too lazy to check up on them. "You didn't even drop by to say hello to your kid--which you obviously knew you had."

"I was stopping your uncle from destroying the universe!"

"Shut up! Thanos isn't family to me! He doesn't even know I exist, yet he's ruined a lot for me! And you aren't family to me, either!" Peter snaps. "You were never there before, so why should you try to show up now, out of nowhere? It's easier to pretend you don't exist--"

"Why are you so angry?" Eros asks. He doesn't mean to sound taunting, but with the way Peter looks at him, he probably came off as taunting. Adam says nothing, as usual, but he shrugs when Eros looks to him for help. He's only here to help Peter view the past, not help Eros fix his fuck-ups.

"Because while you claimed to be out there fighting some kind of war, mom was dying and there was nothing anyone on Terra could do about it! But you with your weird alien whatever bullshit, you could have saved her! Your people are more advanced than mine, you could have come back and saved her with your technology and alien cures for just about anything before she died!"

"No one could have saved her, son--"

"Don't call me that! I don't even know you! Just--get out of my head, dude! How did you guys even get in here!?"

Peter's angry, of course. 

Peter has always been angry. His sentiment and soft feelings never canceled out his anger. They only pushed it aside until he could find someone to unleash it on.

Eros was the perfect person. He was pretty much the root of Peter's anger, anyways.

"We aren't done here," Eros says, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He'd probably end up strangling Peter if he wasn't careful. "Peter..."

"Why are you even doing this?" Peter asks, sighing as the setting around him warps into the setup of a hospital. He can see his ten year old self sitting in the plastic chair outside of his mother's room. Exactly how he remembered it. "What are you doing!? Stop this! I don't--"

"I...I didn't get to see what she last looked like..."

"So you're using my memories!? What the hell? That's so-- You don't even deserve to know what she last looked like! You left her behind when she needed you, dude! Oh god-- If I ever actually meet you in person, I'm punching the shit out of you! There are so many things wrong with this!" Peter turns away to avoid re-living the worst day of his life. First, Eros had told him that they were here to view his origin, or some bullshit like that--he wasn't paying attention, anyways. And now the asshole was feeding off of Peter's memories just to get one last view of the woman he left behind in the mud. "You can't just hijack my dreams and bring me along on some Christmas Carol-type bullshit with your wannabe hippie freak friend who's got a fucking green rock glued to his forehead to view my 'past' you fucking asshole--"

He never got to finish his ranting. He was shaken into the world of the waking by Kraglin, who stood hovered over him. "Peter, wake up!"

-—-•-—-

The half-Terran sat up in the co-pilot's chair, pulling the coat tighter around himself. A part of him was glad that Kraglin interrupted his 'dream', but another part of him was angry. He'd wanted to finish telling Eros off. Apparently the man had left his head as soon as Peter's eyes opened.

He wasn't even aware that he was crying until he reached a hand up to run at his face, wiping tears off his cheeks and sucking in a shaky breath. That was kind of nerve-racking, too. His father actually came to him in his sleep...only to piss him off.

 

Kraglin hadn't wanted to interrupt Peter's sleep, but the way the younger man was whispering and twitching about in his sleep concerned him. Peter talked in his sleep, yes, but he was never this vocal, and he never looked this troubled.

"You were right," Peter said after and awkward period of silence. Yondu glanced at him, but said nothing. "Eros is a fucking asshole." The Terran pulled his knees up to his chest and massaged his temples. "I can't wait to fucking meet him so I can beat the shit out of him...after we find Ronan, of course."

Honestly, Peter would much rather deal with Ronan than whatever the fuck was happening in his mind while he tried to sleep. First of all, who even gave Eros permission to get into his mind!? Second, why the hell did the Titan wait until Peter was asleep and had no control of his mind...

"Where would we even begin to look for Ronan?" Gamora asked, shooting Peter a concerned look.

"He's going to Xandar. It's that obvious. He has the orb and he's not going to waste much time getting there," Peter winced and rubbed at his chest. Sometimes he still felt pain, despite his overly-quick recovery, "So that means we go to Xandar, too...and if you don't want to go to Xandar, then you can get the hell off my ship because that's where we're headed."

No one bothered to object.

"So I had this dream..."

"Boy, I don't recall anyone asking you to share--"

"Shut up, Yondu. I'm telling a story. Anyways, I had a dream. Or, at least, I thought I had a dream but...Eros came to me. In my sleep..."

"And you let 'im?"

"Shut up. Again.  
He got into my brain, again. But this time he didn't tell me to wake up. Instead he brought this weird guy with him and tried to show me some origin story...and the weird guy, he kept changing the dream with his weird forehead diamond thing..."

"The other man, the 'weird' one. Did he have long blonde hair?" Gamora interrupted.

"Yeah. And he was wearing red and black. He never said anything, but...I can't remember his name. Was it Owen? No, Emmet? Andy? No--it was Adam! Yeah. His name was Adam. That's what Eros called him." He wiped the rest of his tears off his face. He hadn't even known why he was crying.

Recognition crossed Gamora's face.

"Adam Warlock. I know of him. I have met him long ago on a mission that Thanos had sent me on. Since then, he has allied himself with Eros. The 'head diamon' you are speaking about is a gem stone which provides him with reality-warping abilities."

"That's what he was doing...He took me back to the day my parents met, and the day my mom died...he used a rock to do that? That's...unethical? They sabotaged my sleep."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…He also showed me what Thanos did to Titan. It was really messed up, too. I thought we were look at it in real time. It's kind of scary, y'know? And now I've got so many things to sort out in my mind. I also need to find a way to keep the bastard out of my mind..."

"Take your music box," Gamora held his Walkman out toward him. "You should feel better."

He took it from her and secured the headphones over his ears. "Thank you, Gamora."

The soft 'ooga chaka' could be heard as it fell silent in the ship.

"You know," Peter said, after a few minuets of quiet. "I can't wait to see Ronan again. I'm gonna punch him in the face so hard, too. Nobody kills me and gets away with it. And then I'm gonna find Eros and punch him in the face, too. As hard as I can. And then..."

"Then?" Rocket asked.

"I'm going after Thanos. And I'm gonna beat the shit out of him. Im gonna fight everyone. But first we gotta get to Xandar."

"Well...we'll help you," Kraglin said, coming over and placing a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I mean...right, Yondu?"

"S'long as this green witch keeps her end of the deal." Yondu replied, switching the Milano to autopilot and swiveling the chair around to face Gamora. "She does what she says she will, an' we'll all be fine."

"Wait a minuet, what deal!?" Peter slipped off his headphones and looked between the two. "What did you offer him--what did she offer you!?"

"Things. Lots of 'em."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man. Im sorry for not posting anything for like a week.
> 
> School has been kicking the shit out of me recently. It was going good until I reached the point where I stopped understanding whatever was being taught. It's been a rough week. I haven't laughed as much as I normally do, one of my friends was convinced that im mad at her, and I've been feeling sick all weekend. Wtf why does the universe hate me.
> 
> But, I doodles some ugly Fanart for my story Baby Claws. I'm not linking it, though, bc im on mobile. But it's in the tumblr Staraccuser tag. (Just beware of all the porn, it's everywhere.)
> 
> I have more things to post later, just to make up for all the time I haven't posted anything.


	14. Fourteen. End.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's finally the end of the story omg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg i finally updated after like a billion years. There will be so much stuff in the end notes, okay?
> 
> All mistakes are mine
> 
> Now, before we get started, I just wanna say: aHAHAHAHAAA  
> I wanna say I'm sorry but im not.

"Ronan has become…unstoppable. All we have to do is get that infinity stone away from him!"

"I hope you got a better idea than that, boy, because ain't nobody stealin an infinity stone from Ronan the Accuser," Yondu shook his head.

"I know, just--give me time. I can figure this out. I can make a plan!"

"You don't have time, Quill. That crazy boyfriend of yours is gonna kill off an entire planet."

"I know! Don't remind me!"

 

 

Peter's miraculous plan came to him in the middle of the night while he was trying to sleep. As soon as he perfected it in his mind, he leapt up to alert the others, stepping on Cosmo's tail in the process.

The dog yelped loudly in alarm, leaping up and out of Peter's way as the man went to flick all the lights.  
The others who were scattered about the ship in different sleeping positions groaned at being woken up and sluggishly pulled his or herself into a sitting position.

"Peter--what the hell, we're sleeping," Kraglin grumbled, rubbing at his face.

Peter took a seat on the floor and the others all sat up to listen, like a group of children telling stories at a lame sleepover. Cosmo spun around a few times before settling back down (away from the beds) and turning his head to listen.

"I have a plan!"

Rocket, who'd clambered up on to Groot's shoulder, scoffed, "You have a plan? First of all, you're copying me from the other day when I said I had a plan, second--"

"I'm not copying you!"

"Are too!"

"Rocket, 'I have a plan' is not that unique of a thing to say! Everyone always says it! I have a plan!"

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax asked.

"Yeah, what percentage?" Rocket echoed, crossing his arms.

"Uh, I don't know...12 percent?"

"12 percent!? HA!" Rocket erupted into loud laughter.

"That is the fakest laugh I've ever heard!"

"It's real!" Rocket roared, baring his teeth.

"Fake. Totally fake!"

"Quill, that is the most real, authentic laugh of my life because THAT is not a plan!"

"It is hardly a concept," Gamora sighed.

"You're siding with them!?"

"You're an idiot, Pete," Kraglin mumbled, swiping a hand over his face. "A real idiot."

"Not idiot, but not...smart," Cosmo said, curling into a ball and tucking his nose under his tail.

"12 percent? Really?" Rocket rolled his eyes.

"I am Groot!"

"So what if it's better than 11 percent!? What the heck does that have to do with anything?!" The raccoon folded his ears back in annoyance. 

"See!? Groot is the only one of you who has a clue! Thank you, Groot! Thank..." Peter stopped talking when he noticed that Groot was munching on the vines that sprouted from his shoulder. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You realize Yondu expects you to have a plan as soon as we reach the Elector?" Kraglin asked, settling himself back down on the floor against the wall.

"I know! I know that! I was hoping you guys would help me out!" Peter said, feeling his heart beat frantically as the others seemed to give up on him, slowly returning to their sleeping positions. "I need your help..." His hands kneaded at the hem of his jacket, and he nervously glanced at everyone again. "Guys…we could do something. Something that matters. Just...just look at us. We're just a bunch of fuckin' losers."

The others quickly sat up, ready to jump all over him for insulting them.

"I-I mean, like...folks who have lost things. Homes, families, normal lives...things that are important to us. We're a band of losers who have let life take away everything good we ever had, with nothing to make up for it. We could change that. Instead of not caring about anything ever again, we could actually give a shit for once in our lives. Instead of only thinking about ourselves, we could care about other people. There are people out there who are about to lose everything they ever had, their homes, their family, their own lives. People out there who will die, including you, if we don't do anything. The only one who who stands a chance of surviving is me, but I'm not about to stand by and watch as Ronan destroys billions of people's lives without at least doing something about it!"

 

"You want us to help you stop Ronan... Pete, you know Ronan best, out of all of us. If you aren't sure you can stop him, what makes you think we can?" Rocket asked, draping his tail around Groot's neck. "Stopping Ronan is...impossible. You're asking us to do a job that none of us but you would know how to do. You...You're asking us to die."

 

Peter gripped the flaps of his jacket tightly to keep his hands from kneading at it and gritted his teeth. "I...I guess I am."

He didn't make eye contact with the others. Instead, he turned his back to all of them, slouching his shoulders and sucking in another deep breath. "It's probably something none of you want to do. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull you guys into this mess. It's all my fault...I-I-I...dragged you all in to this. I should have just left you all alone, I could've avoided half of this stuff happening if I just would've stayed put...I fucked up, guys. I fucked everything up. When we get to the elector, all of you can stay there. I'll just...do this by myself."

 

"Peter...I have spent my whole life surrounded by my enemies. It would be an honor to die beside you. My friend," Gamora said, getting up and moving to sit beside Peter.

"I am Groot!" The tree said, adding his support.

"We all gotta die some day," Kraglin said, shrugging his shoulders. "Might as well do it together. If I remember correctly, there was once a bratty little 8-year-old that thoroughly explained to me that 'brothers gotta stick together, no matter what.'" The older Ravager made his way over to also sit by Peter. They sat back-to-back, with Gamora on Peter's left.

"You have become a great ally, Peter Quill." Drax. "If fighting beside you is what you wish, I will gladly do it. Our chances of survival are low, but I know that is a risk I must take. If things take a wrong turn, I can still find comfort with the fact that In the end, I will see my family again. My wife and daughter will be waiting for me." He, also, sat beside Peter, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder.

Cosmo hefted himself up off the floor and padded over, tucking himself under Peter's right arm. "Cosmo will always help other Earthers, especially you, Peter Quill who is also known as Star-Lord." Peter's hands immediately went up to pull the dog closer, pushing aside the collar of his space-suit so he could hug his neck.

The others turned to look at Rocket.

"What?!"

No reply.

After a moment, though, Rocket sighed and spoke up. "Ah, what the heck. I don't even got that long of a lifespan anyways. What do I have to lose?" He hopped off of Groot's shoulder and trudged over to the group to sit with them. "Look at us, are you happy now? We're just a bunch of jackasses sitting around. I can't believe this!"

"Thanks, guys," Peter said, forcing himself to smile. "It's nice to know I've got people to count on. But...I think the only way to stop Ronan is to kill him." He swallowed hard, possibly to prevent himself from nervously puking. "I guess I'm gonna have to do it. I have to kill my own boyfriend."

 

\----

 

"The stone reacts to anything organic. The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge." Gamora stated.

"So we do not let Ronan get to Xandar's surface. If he does, anything and everything can and will be destroyed," Peter added, gaining nods from the group of Ravagers.

"Peter will get in contact with one of the Nova Officers that arrested us back on Xandar a few weeks ago and alert them about the situation. Hopefully they'll believe we want to help."

" So this is how it's gonna work. We attack them with the element of surprise. Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull. From there, my ship, and Yondu's will enter."

"But...won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside? They don't particularly like us," Kraglin questioned.

"I think of Sakaaran as paper people!" Drax said, flexing his muscles. Kraglin grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Once they know we're on board, Ronan will know we're there for the orb. He'll hide himself behind a security wall which I can disable by dismantling the main power source," Gamora continued.

"We'll make it to the flight deck, where Ronan will be. Now, get this; Ronan doesn't know I'm alive, so--" Peter got a large metal contraption and placed it on the floor for everyone to see.

"The hell is that?" Someone asked.

"Hadron Enforcer," Rocket said, crossing his arms and grinning proudly. "A weapon of my own design. This baby can launch grenades that can blow up entire moons!"

Peter nodded. "And I'm gonna use it to, y'know...get rid of Ronan..."

"Once we get the stone to ourselves, you're gonna want to use these to contain it," Gamora said, taking Peter out of the spotlight and tossing about gray orbs. "Don't let it touch you. If any part of you touches that stone, you will be disintegrated. Understand?"

"Today, life is giving us a chance to be something other than the dirty thrives many people have come to see us as," Peter added. "Today, we get to be the good guys. We get to flash our red coats about and, if we make it out alive, we will be honored for eternity!"

Everyone collectively nodded, then dispersed to get themselves ready for the battle to come.

"Girl," Yondu said, grabbing Gamora's shoulder and forcefully turning her around. "You remember what you promised me. And you," he turned to Peter, "After all this is done, that orb comes to me."

Peter sighed. "I...well...okay. Fine. You can have it."

"You cross me, I'll kill every last one of you."

"No, you won't," Peter mumbled under his breath.

\------

"This is a terrible plan!" Gamora shouted over the loud sound of ever engines starting up.

"Umm, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends!" Peter said, dropping out of the Elector's hangar and towards the familiar dark ship ahead of him.

"Sometimes, we say things we don't mean," Gamora said sarcastically, smiling as she did so.

"You know, Gammy. I, uh, you're my friend. Really. And, uh...the chances of us making it are very slim. But it would make my heart more than happy to know that I died beside you, fighting for our lives and everything we stand for," Peter said, looking away to hide the blush that was creeping up his cheeks. Peter had little to no friends growing up. Having someone, especially Gamora, admit that they were friends made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "You look good in Ravager Red, by the way. And--"

 

What he wanted to say next was interrupted by Yondu's command to submerge their ships underneath the giant battle ship before them.

 

 

"Ronan! A Ravager fleet is approaching!" Nebula shouted, moving to face the Kree.

The tall blue man looked down at her.

Ravagers. Presumably here to get revenge on him for (accidentally) killing Peter Quill.

They would not be a big enough threat, though.

"All pilots dive, they're beneath us!" Nebula commanded into her comm unit upon realizing that they were swooping down underneath the Dark Aster.

 

"There're too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora informed, looking around at the crafts that easily tore through the other ships. They were swan diving themselves straight down toward the city below, hitting M-ships on the way down. "We can't stop them!"

Then, she noticed something. The crafts were being shot down, and it wasn't by the Ravagers.

"Peter Quill," an unfamiliar voice filled her ears and she turned her head toward the small speaker on the ships's 'dashboard', "This is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you. You are an idiot, a thief, and you have given us no reason to show you trust, child. Prove me wrong, boy."

Beside her, Peter half-squealed happily, "Gamora! Bro, they got my dick message!"

"I've been hit!" Yondu's voice broke Peter's happy moment. "I'm out of this!"

"No!" Peter leaned over to the left to peer out the large window of the Milano. The wing blocked most of his view, but he could still see the ship spiraling toward the ground below, a flaming mix of red and purple followed by a trail of smoke.

"Quill, now!" Rocket's voice filled the silence of the ship.

"No more games with me, boy," Yondu shouted, to make sure his voice could be heard clearly as he unbuckled himself from the chair's restraints and slid across the floor to grab his parachute. "I'll see you at the end of this!"

Peter did not move. Instead, he continued to watch until he could see the top of the parachute descending toward Xandar's surface. It was hard to spot through the smoke and gunfire of the ships in battle, but he saw it. A black cloud-like shape with three red stripes painted across it.

"Peter! Hurry up!" Rocket said, urging him to get the job done quickly.

With that, he surged the Milano forward and crashed it through the hole, tearing up the wings and scraping the glass above them. Once he spotted the soldiers, he set fire to them, working the ship's guns to their full extent.

 

"They've made it on board!" Nebula exclaimed, looking to Ronan.

"Nebula...shut up. I have eyes of my own, I can see what is happening. None of this will matter when we reach the surface."

With a roll of her eyes, Nebula turned around to command their soldiers. "Put up the security doors!"

 

 

"It's fucking dark in here!" Peter complained, almost tripping over his own feet.

"I agree," Drax said, "I cannot see a thing."

From behind them, Groot wordlessly lifted a wooden hand to the air, giving off miniature lights that floated away and filled the air like a band of fireflies.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"Im pretty sure the answer is 'I Am Groot'. Now c'mon!"

Peter began jogging, already familiar with the interior of the ship now that he could see exactly where he was.

As they progressed deeper into the ship, Peter's mind began to reel in memories that weren't aiding them in their battle. They ran past a corner, and Peter's mind relayed the time he finally got enough courage to shove Ronan against the wall and kiss the hell outta him. In that very corner.

The hallway they're in was Peter's least favorite. It was always dark and cold. Peter wasn't fond of the dark. This hallway was where he'd link his hand to Ronan's and press himself against the Kree's body to push away the chill on his skin and the fear of the dark.

Peter came to an abrupt stop.

He really didn't want to do this.

"Is everything alright? Are you alright?" Gamora asked, stopping beside him. He looked away from her. "Peter?"

"Has something gone wrong?" Drax asked from behind. It was then that Peter noticed that when he stopped, they all stopped.

"C'mon, Peter. We don't have time to waste. You have to lead us through this; We're following you." Gamora said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "We're following Star-Lord."

With a nod, he prepared to run again, only to be stopped by Nebula appearing out of nowhere.

"Not you!" Peter groaned, watching as the blue woman strode over to Gamora.

"Gamora, look what you have done!"

"Nebula!"

"Guys," Peter interrupted, causing both girls to look at him. "Please don't fight like that. It's gonna give me a boner, honestly."

Both girls rolled their eyes and began to engage in hand to hand combat.

"Follow through with the plan, Peter!" Gamora shouted. "I'll end this quickly!"

Peter nodded, despite wanting to see how close Nebula and Gamora could get to eachother while yelling without actually touching eachother, and began running again, Drax and Groot following behind.

"Wait up! Guys!"

The group spun around to find Rocket sprinting after them on all fours.

"Rocket!" Peter exclaimed, grin growing on his face. "I thought you were out there?"

"They started divebomin' the city," Rocket scrabbled up on to Peter's shoulders and breathed heavily. "Saal and the others had to break formation and move closer to the ground. They're dogfighting out there, and we, uh...we're losing."

 

Peter heaved a sigh as Rocket leaped over to Groot's shoulder. He activated his mask and switched on the comm unit to hear what was going on outside.

"Star-Lord."

"Finally, someone called me by–" Peter screamed internally, realizing who it was Turning to face Korath, "Why do you people keep coming out of bowhere!? No--why aren't you dead yet!?"

Before the man could respond, Groot extended his arm forward like it was shot out of a canon and wrapped it around the man. With a cry of outrage, the tree swung Korath about, making sure to slam him extra hard into the walls of the ship. The loud commotion drew the attention of several guards, who never stood a chance against the savage Giving Tree.

With that problem taken care of, the last thing left for them to do was wait for Gamora to open the door.

"What's taking her so long?" Rocket said, growing impatient.

Peter shrugged, "I don't know!?" He could feel his chest tightening on the inside. He wanted to pace around like a nervous fox, his hands wouldn't stop trembling, and it took all his willpower not to stutter when he spoke. The anxiety was bearing down on his already heavy heart, and all he could do was wait until the door opened, and then rain hell down on everything on the other side. He didn't want to do that, either, but that was their last option. This sounded so much better in his head.

His eyes stayed glued to the closed door, hands clutching tightly at the Hadron Enforcer that was now being held against his chest. With each passing second, he seemed to be aware of every little thing his body did. He did not like this.

"Hurry up, Peter!" Kraglin's voice sounded through the comm.

"Gamora hasn't opened the door!" He cried out, cringing when he heard the way his voice was pitched higher than normal.

"Well tell her to hurry it along!" Kraglin snapped. "It's gettin' real fuckin' ugly out here. We're already lost so many people. Jaeet, Kala, Horuz…Horuz is gone! We think Yondu made it to the ground, but he disappeared out of sight along with a necrocraft...Peter…"

Peter sucked in a shaky breath. What had he done?

"Peter!" Gamora shouted from down the hallway, "MOVE!"

The universe seemed to move in slow motion after that; Like looking-at-a-slowed-down-action-shot-in-a-movie kind of slow.

Peter ducked as Gamora fired a shot from a large gun she had in her clutches. The door smashed to bits in front of him, and he shot up, slipping on debris to get in to position.

He stood with his feet apart, Hadron Enforcer against his chest. Behind him, Drax and Gamora pressed against him so he wouldn't be thrown back by the force of the shot, and Groot and Rocket stood as tall as possible behind them.

With a grit of his teeth, and his body as braced as possible, Peter fired the hardest shot of his life.

The Kree whipped around faster than the speed of light, mind hardly registering the glowing red eyes. In a quick act of defense, he swung his hammer like a bat, colliding with the blast from the Hadron Enforcer and creating an explosion large enough to destroy the entire inside of the ship, leaving it's burning, heavy shell to crash down to the planet below.

 

Before any of them realized what was happening, Groot was herding them all in, using every ounce of strength he had to incase them in a cocoon of vines and branches, flickering lights emitting from the bark of his skin.

"Groot!" Rocket untangled himself from where Peter was clutching on to his body (which felt broken all over.) "Groot, no! Don't--what are you doing!?" He knew exactly what Groot was doing though.

The flora colossus outstretched two smaller vines to wipe at the tears forming in his best friend's eyes.

"You...you'll die!" Rocket's voice was hoarse, yet trembling. "No, Groot!"

"I Am Groot." the tree rumbled, extending more vines to wrap around Drax, Gamora, and Peter. Vines caressed Rocket's soft fur, some hugging him tightly, and Groot's deep voice caused them all to tremble from the inside out; "You are Groot."

No one had ever heard Groot say anything other than his usual three-word phrase. Not even Rocket.

Tighter, Groot gripped his his friends, allowing more light to escape from his core. "We," He said, holding them close. "We. Are. Groot."

 

This was not the ending any of them wanted.

 

 

"Behold, your Guardians of the Galaxy!" Ronan's voice boomed and echoed among the wreckage of the ship. "Not strong enough to protect you, like you all thought they would."

He lifted his war hammer high above his head.

"Today, Xandar will parish for what it has done! I shall unfurl thousands of years of Kree Justice upon the surface of this petty planet! You shall feel the burn of my rage, and you will no longer be of existence! Xandar does not deserve to live!"

 

Peter lifted his head from where it was buried in dust. He peeked over the piece of wrecked ship that kept him hidden from Ronan's line of vision.

Rocket lay several feet away, half buried in a pile of broken twigs. Drax wasn't too far from him, laying face up on a hunk of metal. Gamora was the furthest away, laying facedown and bent up in an awkward position that would never be fixable if she wasn't enhanced.

Ronan's making a long and useless speech, and Peter's extreme parkour skills and surprisingly recently apparent pain endurance kick in and with a jump and a push of his hands, he was up and practically flying over debris in Ronan's direction, like a lion pouncing and going in for the kill.

"I can't let you do this!"

"Peter?! Peter!"

"I can't blame you," Peter said, swiping the hammer from Ronan and scaling a larger piece of the broken ship, keeping a good distance away from Ronan, "--for doing what you want to do. And it's way past too late to even think about saving your mind. Ronan--I don't you what happened to you! And I don't know how I managed to ignore everything you did in plain sight!" His anxiety shot though the roof, firing itself past the stratosphere. He shook his head. He looked down at the hammer and sighed. He needed to set things straight. "I...I love you, Ronan, but...you don't deserve the power this stone has. Nobody does."

Everyone within a 50 billion mile radius seemed to shout at Peter not to, but he reached in to the center of the hammer and yanked the stone out.

Hot energy surged through his veins and he jumped down to the floor, managing a few steps before the power became too much, and he collapsed completely, screams blending with the loud screeches of the stone and anyone who had ever held it before him. Several of them, all different pitches and octaves, blend together with Peter's own incessant wailing, loud and unknown to even his own ears. He writhed on the ground, like a fish out of water, kicking up dust and rocks. His lungs burned for any bit of air they could take in, his eyes went dark as his vision blurred to nothingness, and his body felt as if it was being blended to bits.

This, he thinks, is a trillion and one times worse than death. 

 

 

"Peter," he hears a voice through it all. Soft, feminine. "My little Star-Lord."

Suddenly, the pain is gone. He can see everything. Every single galaxy and solar system that's out there. He's floating in the middle of all of time and space and he can't feel a single hint of pain. At least, that's how his mind is processing it. Only, it can't really process anything right now. And, walking towards him with a trail of starts and neon, colorful cosmic dust following her in place of her footprints, his mother. Meredith Quill.

"Peter." Her voice is softer than anything to ever exist. Softer than the fluffiest cloud, the softest fabric, the softest sand. Her hair is long and blonde, with tiny flecks of stars plastered all over like glitter. They're in her eyes, on her skin, shining in her hair. She is beautiful.

"Mom," Peter gasps out, forcing his limbs to move so he can reach her.

"Peter," her hand is extended out toward him, and her smile is more than inviting. With each step she takes, stars jump out from beneath her feet, like some high quality video game effect. "Take my hand, Peter."

There are stars in place of his own footprints, and he ignored them for the option of lurching forward toward her, latching his right hand to her extended one. "Mom!"

She pulls him in for a tight hug, and he stoops down and bends his knees so he can tuck his head under her chin, the way he used to when he was little. Tears stream down his face, and he hardly registers that a third person has joined them when he finally pulls away from her, but keep's their hands linked. A man, with his fiery red hair practically glowing atop his head like flames. He's dressed in white, shiny battle armor, with an orange fox right on the front of his chest plate. He's tall, about as tall as Ronan, and he smiles down at Peter.

It all feels so real.

"My son," he says, and Peter blinks up at him.

"Eros?"

"The universe awaits your return, Peter Jason Quill." Eros' voice seemed to surround Peter completely. "Do not make them wait any longer."

"B-but--how!?" He squeezes Meredith's hand for comfort. "What am I supposed to do!? The infinity stone killed me!"

"It did not. You have to let go of the stone," Eros says.

Peter glances down to his right hand, the same hand he grabbed the stone with, and sees this his and Meredith's hands are still linked. Between their palms, he can feel a warm pulsing in the spot where the stone was

"Let go," Eros says again. "Of everything."

After a moment of contemplation, Peter closed his watering eyes, took a deep breath, and let go of Meredith's hand.

The pain came back to him, flooding his body until he went numb. He couldn't feel a thing. His heart was no longer beating faster than the speed of light, he wasn't screaming himself dry, he didn't feel like he was being pulled in every direction and sliced to bits. It was just him. Just Peter, and a void of stars on a black background.

Through the cloud of purple dust and dirt, Ronan watched helplessly as Peter howled with all of his soul. There was nothing he could do about it but watch as the dark cloud engulfed them and blew winds in every direction.

And finally, the dust settled down.

In the space that Peter previously occupied, there was a pile of dark ash.

And,  
the first time in his entire life,   
Ronan the Accuser took a knee and wept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-read this like five times I really hope there's no mistakes or im jumping off a cliff right now. 
> 
> I'm just waiting for the "I DIDNT WAIT TWO MONTHS TO HAVE PETER DIE" comments.
> 
> But, don't worry. He ain't dead. If he died, I wouldn't bother planning a sequel for this because it would make no sense. Nobody wants to read a Fic that's just Ronan crying over his dead boyfriend.
> 
> But i swear it took me so long to write this story and make it somewhat good so don't be upset if the sequel is just a script to a sitcom about Thanos and Peter because really that's all I think I will be capable of doing. Maybe I'll call it 'My Uncle Thanos'
> 
> THAT SCENE WITH HIS MOM TOOK ME LIKE A BILLION YEARS TO WRITE
> 
> Also, I made a new tumblr to chill on. The url is @sharkaccuser  
> or just go to sharkaccuser.tumblr.com
> 
> My tumblr is the most unstable thing because I don't know how to do custom themes and stuff so I'm just mESSING it up. I already fucked it up twice im so bad I cry.
> 
> But feel free to be my friend and talk to me there. Maybe I'll upload art or something soon.
> 
> Mannnn I'm gonna leave y'all alone but idk I love feedback. So...  
> IM ALWAYS A SLUT FOR THOSE COMMENTS, BABES.

**Author's Note:**

> BLAH blah blah, this is unbeta'd.
> 
>  
> 
> All mistakes are mine, and im gonna pin the blame on autocorrect.
> 
> Comments make me happy.


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